


Trouble

by MS_M2



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-16 23:16:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 49,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2288201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MS_M2/pseuds/MS_M2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>COMPLETE STORY 23/12 : She's trouble. She's trouble. Proper trouble is coming: Have the 11th Doctor & Clara come across River Song's final secret? No one brings more trouble in their wake than The Doctor & his late wife, River Song. But will looking for River's final mystery send -Clara and The Doctor into a place they can't return from? Spoilers.Friends and foes return.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**TROUBLE**

"No attorneys to plead my case. No opiates to send me into outta space. And my fingers are bejeweled with diamonds and gold. But that ain't gonna help me now. I'm trouble. Yeah, trouble now, I'm trouble, ya'll disturb, my town I'm trouble. ~ Pink (Trouble)

"Trouble is a friend. But trouble is a foe. Oh, oh. And no matter what I feed him. He always seems to grow. Oh, oh…You're fine for a while. But you start to lose control. He's there in the dark .He's there in my heart. He waits in the wings. He's gotta play a part. Trouble is a friend. Yeah. Trouble is a friend of mine." ~ **Lenka (Trouble Is a Friend)**

**~**

**Disclaimer** : I did not own Doctor Who or characters - BBC

 **Note:** This takes place right after Day Of The Doctor and before Time Of The Doctor – Spoilers through the end of Time Of the Doctor.

*Based on a cut line from Name of The Doctor written by Steven Moffat

**~**

**CHAPTER 1**

The 51st Century

"I can't go any further. This is where I end," River's voice dripped with great strength and sorrow.

They had been running together, towards the white light, away from the desktop burning around them. The Doctor hadn't even noticed he had taken her hand out of habit. In fact, it wasn't until The Doctor felt his arm jerk and River let go, that it had even dawned on him that he had taken her hand at all. The Doctor's eyes said it all – he knew what this meant - that this was good-bye.

"Doctor!" yelled Clara as she turned back to see just how far ahead of The Doctor she was - he had trailed four steps behind her. "We don't have much time."

"She's right," River spoke with a hard resolve. "You have to go." The Doctor didn't move and River turned her head to see the ground behind her burning away. "Now!"

CAL was burning and their time was growing short.

"River!?" he demanded. "That room -" he said firmly, as If the idea had been inside of him their entire time in the computer, inside the database, and was just now bubbling to the surface. He was about to confront her when the madness started and they were forced to flee.

"Just go Doctor. There's no time," River urged him.

Clara agreed, "Doctor, the light... it's getting smaller…." referring to their only escape plan - a circle of white light that reached outside the computer - to real life.

Clara put her hand out and grabbed hold of him, but The Doctor balked, almost getting angry, but not at Clara, at River. He shook Clara's hand from his forearm and stepped closer to River. The wind from the light scooped around The Doctor and Clara, as he shouted to his wife to be heard.

"River, in your house, there was a room, an extra child's room. Clara found it."

River went on like a broken record. "You have to go now. The entire library is burning; do you want to be next?"

"Everything in that house is by design from your head, River."

"For once in your life let something be!"

"- All created from your subconscious – the program is only a base to work from, every house had some small anomalies, which means you created that room, River -"

"Are you mad? Go! run! You're running out of time."

"I am not leaving until you tell me!" His face contorted the way it did when he was rabid with distress.

"Doctor!" Clara cried out over the growing noise of the blaze around them, which was now seething behind River's back like a volcano. "It's closing."

"Clara, go!" The Doctor shouted, yet with just a glance of his eye toward Clara, as his focus was laser sharp on his wife. "Tell me, River! I won't leave until you tell me!"

"Do you understand that if you stay you will die – the system will burn with you in it – your flesh, Clara's flesh WILL burn. "

"Yes, River, it will, and you can't let that happen, can you? Because you know that doesn't happen, don't you? To me. To Clara. I see it in your eyes. You've researched me way beyond your own time stream. And don't say Spoilers - you know - you know that if I stay here and die, if Clara and I let CAL burn us with you, all of our futures never happen. Paradox's up the... wazu. New word there. Nice to use it. I like it. Glides well off the tongue. Glad I found a way to use it in conversation. I have over 1200 odd years of unused words, maybe I start using them all NOW!"

"Stop it. Go, you damn fool! Be sensible!"

"So, that means you must tell me, River. Tell me or I cause a paradox the size of a quadruple billion universes! Do you want to be responsible for that? Again."

"You wouldn't dare!?'

The hole and the light behind the Doctor and Clara was getting smaller – their literal door was now barely becoming a window.

"Doctor!" Clara bellowed, as the smoke and fire of CAL burned inched closer to them, she could feel the heat.

"Try me!" The Doctor, answered River, his eyes were cold and serious and he could feel himself being pulled backwards by Clara. "Tell me, River!" He put his hand out. "Am I right? Tell me! Am I right!?" he demanded.

"Yes!" River finally shouted out of desperation and The Doctor felt himself being pulled through the "escape hatch" and back into the library floor.

"RIVER!" The Doctor's hand was out stretched to her, but River was no longer there. Again, she was gone. His eyes were moist, but he did not let the tears fall, he was good at that.

"Come on!" Clara pulled The Doctor literally out of his stupor.

The Doctor looked around and knew he had to act. They ran to the Tardis and the doors shut behind them

**~**

"Hold on," he shouted and within a moment they were taken from the airspace of the Library to watching it like a spec from above, out the Tardis door, as the entire planet exploded. Clara could see the hurt on The Doctor's face as if he had lost his wife a second time.

"Oi!" Clara shouted after what seemed like a lifetime of calling his name. A half hour had passed and Clara stood deep inside the control room watching The Doctor who had yet to move from his spot staring out the open Tardis door.

"Yes, sorry…" The Doctor turned from the Tardis door and it closed behind him. Without another word he made a quick pace to the console and busied himself with the Tardis controls.

Clara looked at The Doctor oddly, for his response was not the answer or action she had been expecting. "I called you about five times, over there."

"I'll have you home in two shakes of… well… I can't think of what at the moment, but take your pick." He flipped a large switch.

"What was all that back there?"

"A planet – it exploded – it happens."

"No, between you and Professor Song?" She knew not to call River his wife, or by her first name around The Doctor, it was too painful, so she played into his conceit. "About the room? I don't like my life played with to get info from your dead… " She stopped herself. "From a data ghost - about some… computer generated room."

"It was important, " he stated to Clara and she waited for a more detailed answer. "And private."

"Well, I think if it was worth my life I deserve to know about it," she said, but in an uneasy way, like she wasn't sure her boldness was the right course of action in such a delicate moment, but by hell she would try. Clara folded her arms like it was a period on her sentence.

"The room…" he said, as if answering his own question, knowing she was right, that she deserved an answer, or maybe he wanted someone to talk to. The Doctor began to fiddle with the controls of the Tardis. "Yes, well, I guess you deserve an… explanation don't you? Seemed foolish didn't it? Didn't at the time; does now. Most of my decisions seem that way. " He was silent for a moment. "The room, well… Yes, the room. You see, everyone in that library, all the ghosts and the real people we just saved… again…they all had the same program, you saw - two kids, the perfect house – the human ideal."

"Yeah, I saw. I got that bit."

"Everything they wanted in real life, but never had. Yes, the basic framework all looked the same. But still each unique to the person – the subconscious bleeding in. River's house -"

"The pictures of you and her family…"

"Yes, even her diary. It was all there – transplants from her real life. Even her job at The University. The computer upgrading itself."

"I still don't get it. What does this have to do about the room I found?"

"That room means, counting the library, counting the real world – at the time of her death – that room you found in River's house – it means..." It was like he didn't want to say the words out loud.

"A child's room, yeah? It could just be another part of the program."

"An empty child's room." He looked at Clara. "And not part of the program, no." He focused back on the console controls.

"You're saying – sorry - are you saying that room -"

He looked up and then at Clara. "Out there somewhere River Song… has a child. A real one."

"Yours?" She leaned in with her head when she asked.

"I don't know." He looked away from her, he wouldn't take her gaze. He scratched his fingers under his left eye like it was a tick.

"But a good chance, yeah?" She took a step closer to him and her eyes widen with inquisitive glee.

There was an awkward pause while the Doctor got uncomfortable and mashed on his lower lip and held in his chin. He glared at Clara. "Yes. Good chance. Yes." He looked away and turned a knob on the Tardis console.

"Where is this child?"

"I don't know."

"When?" she asked, as if the first time she had asked the wrong question.

"I don't know." He kept his attention on a screen and a few console buttons.

"What are you doing?"

"Scanning the universe for my DNA."

"Great, then we'll have an answer. Soon, right?"

"It is the universe, Clara. The entire universe - it is going to take some time!"

"Sorry." She could see he was uneasy.

"How long?"

"The scan? Just a few hundred years, a few billion maybe," he said harshly, knowing he didn't want to wait that long.

"So, long then?" she asked as a joke, but The Doctor didn't laugh. "Her diary! You said she wrote down everything you ever did or done together. Read that."

"I can't," he said in a dower tone.

"But you said it yourself; you've both synced up your diaries, no more spoilers, right? That's the word she used, spoilers…. yeah, that's it - no danger. Read the book, find the child. Problem solved."

"I burned it."

"Why would you - I mean…" Clara didn't understand and felt incredibly sad, as her mother's ring and leaf meant so much to her, as mementos, from those in her past she had lost.

"I can't look in that book. I can never look in that book. Clara, River was an archaeologist. She didn't just write down our adventures together, she wrote down all of MY future adventures – everything she could find. Everything I haven't done or even thought to do yet. Her past, my future. It was too dangerous, to me, to my enemies to have that book around. It would put in danger anyone I ever cared about or will care about. And once I read it; it's fixed, I can't change it. You wanted to know why when you do conference calls - why Madame Vastra invites River's data ghost and not the real River from some other point in time. Why? Why not call on the biggest encyclopedia on me in the universe when you're trying to help The Doctor."

"And now that's burned too," she got serious.

"Yes." He took a breath. "So, you see my dilemma." He leaned against one of the guard rails and looked down.

"Well, maybe the child… isn't yours… I mean, think about it. She never told you about it before this, maybe she was trying to keep it a secret from you. A love child." She got all giddy. "Seems rather exciting, don't you think?" She was trying to cheer him up, she smiled and her eyes beamed.

"Noo, noo. Noo. That just confirms it. The fact that she didn't tell me – that's clue number one. " He looked at her. "A Time Lord child, let alone the child of two Time Lords – that would be the most precious find in the whole universe – any child like that wouldn't be safe. Especially mine. River of all people knew that: secrets are the greatest protection of all."

"Wait? River was a Time Lord? I thought both her parents were human?"

"Long story. Let's just say the Tardis gave her Time Lord DNA. Human plus..."

"At birth?"

The Doctor got an odd look on his face and whispered, "Before."

"Before?" Clara took a breath and then her eyes widen. "OHH!" She got it.

"Any child like that wouldn't be safe, and believe you me I've seen it. River's seen it. That's why…that's why the room was empty. Because this child was never in her life. The room isn't an actual room. It represents -"

"-The empty room in her heart…" This really seemed to affect Clara.

"Well, I wasn't looking to frame it so poetically, but... yes."

There was a moment where Clara caught his eyes; they had a deep sadness to them.

"But, no matter." He slapped his hands together. "My child or not, child of the Tardis - of earth – it doesn't matter one bit. If there is a child of River's out there – Amy and Rory's grandchild, that child is in trouble – which means we will find that child and we will protect it. The way…. " He lowered his head and went back the Tardis console. "The way I never got to do with her - to Melody. My broken promise." He said River's real name softly, but Clara heard.

"Wait? Who's Melody?"

"Even longer story, complicated - remind me one day not to tell it to you." He hit a lever and they seem to fly off. "But, let's just say I'm getting a very bad case of deja-vu."

"You're a time-traveler, isn't that basically what you've in a constant state of?"

"You've been paying attention." He was impressed.

"I learn from the best." She smirked. "So where do we look first – for this trouble," she said in her most cheeky tone.

"Looking for trouble? Seems like our cup of tea. But one stop first."

"Where are we going?"

"First. I'm taking you home."

"Hold on, no, I'm going with you," she stated firmly. "I'm helping out – you won't shake me on this one."

"One day, Clara, yes, but not today." He looked at her and smiled "Soon, I promise. I promise." He leaned in, kissed Clara on the forehead and then swooped back to the Tardis controls.

"Well, once I do start helping, where do we start? Hunting for clues?"

"I have no idea."

"Really?" She smiled at him with a great deal of sass.

"Yes, but there lies the fun."

"I know that face. I'm not going home, am I?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

"You're not going home," he said. They smiled at each other for a moment and connected in a way The Doctor hadn't connected with anyone in a while. The main reason he had waited over a 100 years after his last Pond had left him to once again travel with a human. "You win." The Doctor hit a different switch on the console.

"Wait!" Clara stopped and put her finger up.

"Excuse me? Wait?" The Doctor almost spun back in her direction; he wasn't happy.

"River's diary - that was that blue thing, looks like the Tardis - kinda raggedy?

"Yesss…." He was wondering where she was going with this.

"I've seen it before..."

"Yes, back in the computer program."

"No, I mean in real life."

"Real life? How? Where?"

Clara seemed to come up with it in the moment and her eyes narrowed. "In the Black archive. At Unit."

"Unit? No, no on, why would, no - they couldn't - I mean I burned it. I saw it burn, with my own two eyes. " The Doctor paced away from Clara. "There's no way. Not possible."

"And I remember something else…" She racked her brain. "They were under a pair of red high heels. I don't understand how a pair of high heels could be considered a dangerous weapon?"

The Doctor turned to Clara, gestured with his hands, and muttered, "You have no idea." He walked toward the console and seemed to change their destination again.

"Are we going to read the book?" Clara seemed excited about what appeared to be a change in plans.

"No. Still can't do that."

"I could read it for you, why not?" she stated with exhilaration and curiosity.

"Because it could have your future in it too." He pushed down a lever. "But that also means Unit shouldn't be reading it either."

"Then where are we going? We can't go to the Black Archive, its Tardis proof."

"Yes, maybe so, but haven't you learned anything by now…" He lifted another lever and they started to move faster through the time vortex. "Nothing is Doctor proof."

Clara smiled. There was a pause while they both looked up at the center of the console slowing moving up and down.

"There's another reason you want that book, isn't it?" Clara questioned.

"I told you Clara, I can't read River's Diary - Spoilers, against the rules. It could rip a hole in the fabric of time. Plus... once we read it, there's no changing it. The good. The bad. It becomes fixed."

"You said River studied your future. Do you think… do you think Professor Song found it?

"Found what?" He pretended not to know.

"Gallifrey."

The Doctor took a deep breath and waited a moment before speaking. "Perhaps." He paused. "If anyone could find it other than me, it would be River."

"But you can't read the diary and I can't read the diary, so where are we going?"

"Trouble."

"'Excuse me?"

"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. You are in serious trouble." The Doctor said in the direction of a monitor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Please be sure to review. :)**

**CHAPTER 2**

"The diary is an artifact; it belongs to the British government." Kate was stern while they walked down the halls of the Black Archive at UNIT.

"The diary is a personal item that is none of your concern," The Doctor demanded, walking alongside Kate, with Clara trying to keep up behind,

"It was bequeathed to Unit upon the death of Melody Pond Williams aka River Song."

"Who  _happens_  to have been my wife!"

"And who  _happens_  to be the child of two British citizens. We have the right to the book whether she bequeathed it or not."

"And she was my wife, therefore all her belongs should then fall to me. It is my property and I want it back." He mashed his upper lip into his lower. "And it's private."

"Yes…" Kate smirked with a joking eye. "There are a few chapters that would make even my father blush." Kate smiled and then turned into another hallway.

"Well…" The Doctor seemed to take pride in the comment until he saw Clara's smiling face. "No, nooo, that's not what she meant…" He turned into the next hallway and followed Kate. "That's not what you meant!"

The Doctor caught up with Kate who was handed a piece of paper by Osgood. "Thank you, Osgood." Kate quickly pursued the paper.

"Still love the scarf, hello, Osgood." The Doctor greeted her and continued his fight with Kate. "It is the nature of Unit to take things that don't belong to them? What am I saying; you took my Tardis above London like it was a  _tin toy_. Nearly killed me."

"That was an accident." Kate quickly put the hot spot back on The Doctor. "And didn't you just let a planet with all the books in the known universe blow up into smithereens?"

"Well, yes, but not before saving thousands of people in the process."

"What was that tour group doing there in the first place?"

"You know tourists, they go anywhere with a gift shop," he responded with great wit.

Kate tired no to smirk at him.

"...Use to fancy 'um myself, actually…."

"...and yes."

"Yes, what?" The Doctor asked confidently.

"Yes, we do have a habit of taking things that don't belong to us when we need to make sure it doesn't fall in the wrong hands."

"It is in the wrong hands,  _YOURS._  Now give it back," he scolded her like a petulant child. "Besides. How do you even have it? I burned it after she..."

"The diary is a duplicate. Your wife was very clever, Doctor, her entire diary was downloaded and duplicated here at Unit."

The Doctor took hold of Clara's hand lightly for support. It was then that Clara noticed a picture of River and Kate on the big wall of The Doctors co-horts. For sure The Doctor's wife had been to Unit.

The Doctor let go of Clara's hand. "Next of kin! I'm her next of kin, you have no right!" The Doctor was now beyond agitated.

Kate handed The Doctor the yellowed piece of paper in her hand. "You will see here we have a signed document dated 1975 and delivered to Unit in 2012 from an Amelia and Rory Williams…"

"Oh, for  _god's_ sake…."

"...giving full parental permission."

"That's not playing fair.  _Come_  on!"

"You're happy to sue us in the public courts," Kate smirked

"Yes, well, since you don't  _exist_  -" he grumbled.

"Yes, well..." Kate loved having the upper hand.

"How was this  _d_ igital  _d_ uplicate even delivered?"

"A Madam-"

"Vestra..." he finished Kate's sentence with the intention of a sad "Of course."

"- And her cohorts. They had an agreement."

The Doctor nodded his head. "Yes, they are a loyal bunch," he said kindly of them. Kate took the paper back from the Doctor and handed it back to Osgood who disappeared into an adjacent room.

Clara interrupted, "Can we at least see it? He deserves that."

Kate took a breath. "No, I'm afraid that's far worse than just handing it over to you."

The Doctor was not happy. "You see now why it is a dangerous weapon, Clara."

Kate continued. "The most comprehensive book ever created about the Doctor. Your wife, Doctor, send us that book to protect you. And we have every thought and intent in doing so."

The Doctor looked like he was still cross but resigned himself. He turned his back to Kate and paced.

Clara walked forward. "Did she mention anything about a child - something, anything you can tell us?"

"You know then?" Kate inquired.

The Doctor turned to Kate in shock. "And so do you, then?!"

Kate turned to Clara shocked. "He didn't know?"

The Doctor took a breath. "No.  _He_  didn't."

"We assumed - we just assumed you did- not that the story can really be confirmed – it's almost like a fairy tale..."

The Doctor looked at Kate with a gob smacked expression. Clara took his hand, like a good chum, as Kate continued – she could tell he needed it.

"...rumor gossip—legend…"

"You mean until you read River's diary…" The Doctor almost charged towards Kate and snarled, but stopped as he felt Clara's hand tug him back.

"No, Doctor, I swear to you - there is nothing in the book about a child - but there is something we can show you. Two things, in fact. "

Kate took a few steps, but turned to see The Doctor had not followed, in fact he had a very apprehensive look on his face. "Don't worry, I'm not about to show you where you die." She laughed, turned and walked into another room.

"Yes..." The Doctor said softly. "Well, already been, ever so dull," he continued in a deadpan voice.

The Doctor and Clara followed Kate into the open door.

The Doctor walked into the all-white room, followed by Clara. They both watched Kate nod to Osgood, who then turned off the lights and hit a button next to the door. Next, what looked like part of a constellation map in Gallifreyian appeared in front of them as a 3-D image.

Kate spoke first, as the Doctor circled the map as if he had seen a ghost.

"We think they're schematics…" Kate observed the Doctor with great detail.

"But they're unfinished -" The Doctor put his glasses on.

"Why can't I read it?" Clara asked. "I thought you said the Tradis translation, thing-a-ma-gigy, hangs around a bit."

"Transition circlet." The Doctor informed her. "This is Gallifreyian, it doesn't translate."

Kate continued. "We believe it was what Professor Song was working on before her death."

"That's my girl" The Doctor said softly. "Look what you did - you went looking for it, didn't you..." He was almost proud, yet had laser focus as he circled the 3-D image. "Space time coordinates."

"We can have it downloaded to the Tardis for you." Kate motioned to Osgood.

The Doctor took his screwdriver out and pointed it at the image. "Already, done." And then he placed the screwdriver back in his inner coat pocket. "Clara -" he said and the motioned with his head for her to leave with him. He nodded his head at Kate, turned to the door and Clara followed with a smile.

"Doctor," an intimate familiar voice spoke behind him. "Doctor," said the voice again and he knew whose voice it was – it was River's.

The Doctor slowly turned and set his eyes, not on the real River, but on a transparent image of his wife dressed in her white CAL dress, standing where the map had previously been. "Doctor-" the image repeated as if on a glitch - her image skipped for a moment, like static.

"What is this?" Doctor asked slowly.

Clara looked at The Doctor with concern.

Kate took a step forward. "We were able to save portions her data stream in the airways. We we're trying to reconstruct it, but I'm afraid we don't have the entire sequence. It's grown too impossible. It was how we came across the map."

"Turn it off," he said softly.

"Doctor -" the voice of River repeated.

He couldn't take it anymore. "This is sick - this is morbid - you can't do this to her. Turn it off!"

Kate nodded her head to Osgood, the lights came back on, and River was gone.

"I'm so sorry, Doctor," Kate said with great humility.

"It's like you're exhuming her body - she didn't  _want_ to be a book on shelf, I don't know why I thought that, I guess I couldn't let go and maybe I couldn't protect her when she was alive, but I sure as hell can do it when she's gone. And she's gone."

"It's just a data stream." Kate was confused.

"It's still not right." the Doctor mashed his lips together. "Just… just let her lie in peace."

"I'm sorry -" Kate blurted out. "We weren't thinking."

"It doesn't feel like anyone around here is….or cares about my ..." He paused in mid thought and changed his tune. "No, no... I apologize. You were just trying to protect me. Thank you - but just - no, it's wrong." He waved her off and left the room.

Clara didn't know what to do for a moment and then she said her goodbyes and ran after The Doctor.

"Wait!" Kate shouted after Clara who was already out the door.

Clara stopped and looked behind her to see Kate running down the hallway after her. Once Kate reached Clara she opened the girl's hand and put what looked like a USB in her palm and closed it firm. "Just give this to him; he has to see this too; it's important he sees this."

Clara nodded her head and then ran after The Doctor again.

Clara found the Doctor standing outside UNIT next to the Tardis, looking off at the stars in the night sky. She took a moment observing how sad and melancholy he looked, giving him a moment of space.

"You all right?" she finally asked.

"I will be; I always am. After all, I am the Doctor." He smiled, skipped a stone across the Thames, and then looked down.

"If you don't mind me asking… how long were you and Riv - I mean Professor -"

"You can call her River, I shouldn't mind. It was her name. Shouldn't bother me so much. It's been centuries." He choked up a smile. "But you were saying?" He turned to face Clara who was now standing next to him.

Clara didn't believe one word of what The Doctor was saying. "Nothing. " She took a pause. "I just wondered how long you and Professor Song were married?"

The Doctor looked towards the water again. "Simple question, funny answer, not funny ha, ha, just funny odd… you see, I don't know…"

"How can you not know?"

"Hazard of having a  _two_  time traveler household, I'm afraid. We never met in the right order. "

"How long was it for you?"

"Seems an even harder question - a few hundred years, or so… I really don't… " he drifted off and just stopped speaking.

"What was she like?" Clara asked and waited for an answer, but the Doctor gave none and his smile lowered. "Professor Song. The real her - In real life, I mean?" She threw off her question as if it was no big deal, but to Clara it was, and she knew it would be for The Doctor. She wanted to give him a reason to open up to her – to talk about it.

The Doctor took a moment before speaking. *"She was clever and brave and kind and funny. And had more love in one of her hearts than I could ever have in two." He clasp his hands together and faced Clara with a large fake grin. "So, shall we pop off…" He turned away from Clara and brushed a tear from his cheek. He then quickly walked into the Tardis.

Clara followed The Doctor into the Tardis. "Blonde in charge lady told me to give this to you." Clara handed The Doctor the USB. "Sorry, I don't know how to address her."

"No, I think "Blonde In Charge Lady" works just fine." The Doctor looked at the USB with much curiosity before searching for a plug on the Tardis console. "This is old technology for me. It's like trying to plug an 8-track into an iphone. Well, maybe more like a cotton gin to an iphone. Ohhh,  _that's_ an image." He felt under the console. "Oh, yes, there it is!  _How_ _nostalgic_."

Just then a 3-D version of Kate Stewart appeared in front of them.

"How very  _Princess Leia_  of her," Clara joked and then frowned when The Doctor didn't laugh, but gave her a terrible look. "What's that face for?"

"Shhhhh," he reprimanded her with a finger in front of his mouth.

The picture of a cave with Gallifrey writing appeared in front of them.

"Do you know this cave, Doctor?" Kate questioned.

"It looks like the Truths Caves of Prophecy on Tumtorum 2. But I've never seen this one before." He squinted at the image and then put on his glasses for a better look. His face slowly changed to a look of awe.

"It was just discovered and sent to us back in time three thousand years." Kate's voice continued on over the picture.

Clara could see the shocked look on The Doctor's face. She walked closer to him and the image of the cave with curiosity. "What does it say?"

The Doctor took his glasses off and the image disappeared. Kate reappeared and spoke, "We thought this would be useful to you."

"Yes, thank you, Kate." He put his glasses in his pocket. "And thank you," he said, as if to show his appreciation for everything she had done and that there were no hard feelings.

Kate nodded her head and her image disappeared.

Clara waited with anticipation. "Well…" She put her hands out. "What did it say?"

"'The moons of Gallifrey will bring the children back to reality; and be undiscovered no more'," he said with very little interest.

"Ohhh." Clara waited while The Doctor did nothing, but go on with his Tardis driving. "So… does it mean something?"

"You have to understand, Clara, the Truth Caves of Prophecy of Tumtorum 2 are like the fortune cookies of the universe. People can interpret them however they like. I mostly see them as rubbish. Convoluted sayings to make everyone  _think_  they're true. It was nice of Kate to give this to me, but I wouldn't read too much into it." He took the USB from under the control console and threw it in a rubbish bin. He smiled. "Great thing about a having a ship that's a desk top, there is always a rubbish bin around when you need one."

Clara smiled. "Okay, then." She shrugged. "I guess not everything can be a clue. I think I'll just go get a little shut eye before you take me home - since I've technically missed an entire day of it. My brain is started to go a little bonkers."

The Doctor smiled. "Sounds like a plan." Clara turned and walked away. Once Clara's back was to the Doctor his face turned remorse. He then flipped the USB out from his jacket sleeve, where he had hidden it, and covertly slipped it into his pocket.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

The Doctor dropped Clara off with a smile and a bright eyed twinkle in his step.

"You promise to come back as soon as you find something, right? No traveling alone on this. If you make me miss this adventure of all adventures... I'll... I'll… never forgive you."

"Yes. I promise." His eyes looked deep into hers. "I just need… some time alone. "

Clara nodded her head.

"I'll be back soon." He kissed the top of her head and smiled sweetly. "Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone." And then he disappeared into the Tardis and it dematerialized from Clara's view

"Don't get into trouble, he says?" Clara said to herself. "Okay, talking to myself. Better stop that." Her eyes checked to see that no one was watching her and then she grinned, for Clara Oswald had a plan.

**~**

Clara stood in front of UNIT headquarters with her gleaming eyes and determined face. In her right hand was a medium size rock.

**~**

Kate Stewart was sitting in her office when she heard a loud alarm noise sound. An alarm so loud it caused her to stand up like a shot.

Osgood ran in, "Mum, there's been a breach."

**~**

Clara sat in a chair at UNIT with her hands handcuffed behind her. She looked pretty happy with herself. Kate Stewart on the other hand was far from happy. She stood over the bright eyed girl with authority before finally speaking.

"You threw a rock at a high level clearance building. That kind of thing gets you locked away without the key - because there is no key. That's how high security it is."

"If it's so high security, how come I got in by throwing a rock at it?" Clara tried to gesture with her hand, but couldn't because of the handcuffs. She looked embarrassed and tried to pretend she had never tried to gesture at all. She smiled awkwardly.

Kate was not amused. "What do you want, Miss Oswald?"

"I want to read the book." She leaned in.

"What book?!" Kate's face contorted with anger.

"The diary - Mrs. Doctor Professor. " She leaned forward and smiled.

"You can't read the book if you're in it."

"Yeah, the Doctor mentioned something about that. No bother. Do that… what is it…? I saw it on the telly or the internet - yeah, re… re…"

"Redact?" Osgood finished Clara's sentence and Kate gave her a bad look. Osgood looked away.

Clara nodded her head. "Yeah, yeah, _redact_. Can't believe I forgot that word. Never mind. Just take that black pen of yours and mark up all the bits about me and then I can make a proper read of it."

"Does the Doctor know you're here?"

"No." She got a guilty look on her face. "Eh, I'm not gonna tell 'em, eh?" She winked at Kate.

Kate frowned. "So, why should I let you read one of the most dangerous things in the universe?"

Clara got serious and her eyes got a little moist. "Professor Song, or Melody or River, or whoever she liked to call herself. She sent that book to you to protect him. To protect the Doctor and I get why you want to keep it a secret. And that's all good and fine. But he needs someone by his side. He can't travel alone and she knew that. Not all the time. He protects so many people and yet no one protects him. And he needs protecting - mostly from himself. Maybe that was her job, but she's gone now. And someone needs to keep the torch going. And that's me. I know that's me. It was me. And I know she'd want you to give me that book."

~

Crack! The old blue journal was slammed down on the desk in front of Clara. It made her jump and she waved away the dust and small paper particles from the air around her. Osgood breathed into her inhaler for a moment. They were in a room deep inside the Black Archive.

Kate looked crossly at Osgood. "Don't just toss down a centuries old document."

"It's a duplicate." Osgood looked embarrassed.

"Still." Kate nearly rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, Mum." Osgood lowered her head.

Clara waved away the dust. "If it's a duplicate - why all the -" She coughed.

"The computer duplicates everything, down to the smallest detail."

Clara opened the diary to find more than a few black marks.

"You will see we redacted all the relevant bits to yourself."

"Almost this entire book is filled with those little black marks. How am I supposed to read this?"

"That's your problem." Kate smiled. "There is still a large chunk that is free of redaction. Feel free to read those. You have one hour." Kate pointed to a large digital clock on the wall. "Starting now." The clock began its count down.

Kate walked out of the room, followed by Osgood, and the door closed with a large crack.

"Okay, Professor Song." Clara cracked her left knuckle. "Let's see what secrets you can tell me from beyond the grave." She paused. "Okay, that is far too properly creepy." She paused and her big eyes opened wide again. "And now I'm talking to myself. Again. Talking to myself and wasting time."

She opened River's diary and began to read.

**~**

Clara turned the last page with tears in her eyes. She looked up at the clock and it was just about to strike zero. She seemed almost stunned that an hour had already passed. So much so Clara didn't even move when she heard the door open behind her and Kate and her associate, McGillop, walk in. Mostly because it was then that she noticed something on the last page of the diary. Clara lifted her fingers over a few jagged edges of paper making it look as if a page or two had been torn out - the final page. "She doesn't like endings, either," Clara whispered to herself and a tear ran down her face.

Kate coughed to show her presence in the room.

"That is the saddest story I have ever read." Clara wiped the tear from her cheek with the back of her wrist.

"Yes. It is."

"No. I mean… I just…" She hugged the book tight to her chest. "How can anyway go through all that?" She looked at the book's cover and put her hand over it lovingly. "No wonder she was the Doctor's wife."

Kate reached for the book and Clara jerked her hand away. "I feel strangely protective of her now. I see now why The Doctor was so upset. " Clara stood, still keeping the book literally close to her heart.

Kate put her hand out again. "It's just a copy. Not returning the book to us won't change a thing. Plus, we'll just take the book back anyway and make you forget everything you just read. This way you leave with your memories intact." Kate motioned to her associate to step in.

Clara took a breath and handed the book over to Kate's associate who left the room with it.

Clara looked at Kate. "Do you really think she… that River - his wife - had the Doctor's child?

Kate frowned. "We don't know."

"She put all her secrets in that book. Why this one? Her biggest secret - not put in her diary. So it can't be true, right? "

"After what happened to her I don't think she'd want that to happen to her own child - to repeat the cycle. Another Time Lord child, let alone a child of The Doctor's -"

"Yeah, yeah, he said." Clara put her fingernail to her mouth, as she often did when she was thinking. "I see how all of this is ripping him up, tearing him up inside. I've never seen him so out of sorts and I just wanna help. Plus...a parent should be with their - they should know their parents. I mean, don't you think? I mean properly know them. Know where they came from?"

"Yes…" Kate said softly. "I do." She took a step closer to Clara. "But sometimes there is more at stake." The door opened and Osgood walked in and stood next to the open door. It was time for Clara to leave.

**~**

Clara was let out of UNIT knowing full well she was being watched - she was a clever girl after all.

As soon a she got home Clara ran straight to her room without a word to anyone and locked the door. After taking a breath, and making sure all her curtains were drawn, she pulled a small paper square, that from the back looked yellow, from the inside of her blouse. Clara held it to her chest for a moment and smiled. She then made quick strides to her computer, placing the item next to her laptop, before sitting down and beginning to type. The item next to her was, in fact, not a plain sheet of paper, but an old black and white photograph from the 1940's - a picture of Rory and Amy smiling, holding a baby. On the bottom of the photo, written in a pen, were the words "Rory, Amelia & Anthony Williams."

**~**

"So, you're an Amelia Williams fan, eh?" The man in the old bookstore asked as he took Clara through rows and rows of dusty hardcovers and paperbacks.

"Sure…" Clara looked up and around. "I read a few when I was a kid. Mostly with my Mum. I got these kids I took care of after their…" She stopped almost shocked at what she released she had done. "I got them into reading 'em."

"You sound surprised?"

"Not surprised no - Luv a good story, I do - eh, so you said on the phone you're the leading expert on Amelia William's work?"

"Well, I like to think so. At least in Britain. I email with a few of them in the States..." He found a set of stairs and walked up them, Clara followed. "And of course her son -"

"Anthony." Clara took out a notebook and a pen out of her purse and started taking notes.

"Yes, she and her husband adopted him in 1946." He walked down a row of book stakes as if looking for something. "Honestly, my big interest is in her mystery - My sisters used to read her books all the time. And one day my sister Agnes tells me how no one really knew about her - she seemed to have no past and then no future…"

"No future?" That struck Clara oddly and she paused in her writing.

"For no reason in the late 1970's she stopped writing. Just stopped. No one knows why. Before that she rarely gave interviews. Very reclusive about herself. " He took a magazine and a book from the shelf and handed the magazine to Clara. "This is the only real interview she gave, other than the one in the latest edition of her last book."

" _Summer Falls."_

"Yes." He opened the book and to the second page to show Clara. "Even more curious the dedication to that book."

Clara read it out-loud, "To my daughter."

"No one in the family will talk about it. One interviewer said she saw pictures of a young girl not past the age of eight in the house - some speculate the daughter died."

"That book she talked about writing - in that interview in the back of the book - the one with the lost girl in New York City… did she ever write it?"

"From the reprint interview in the most recent addition I mentioned? That was from an old magazine article. Brooklyn Farye, 1969." He looked sad. "No. She never did. There are rumors there is a manuscript somewhere, but I doubt it. Their son would know, but he's not telling. He's hard to reach. I've only met him once. A few years ago he came to town. Stopped off on his way back from...oh, where was it...Leadworth. Said he had family there."

"Leadworth. I know it, yeah." Clara smiled. She was about to go on a trip.

**~**

Clara looked nervous, but took a deep breath and knocked on the door in front of her. She was excited. She waited. She heard the noise of someone coming to the door, so she folded her notebook closed and placed it in her purse. The door finally opened and there, standing in the threshold, looking sad and a bit disheveled was Rory's father, Brian Williams.

"Mr. Williams. I'm the girl who called you." She smiled large.

"Yes. yes… " Brian nodded his head, but seemed a little befuddled, like he had lost his keys.

"Regarding our mutual friend and a…. _blue box_ ," she insinuated with her head.

"Yes, I've been expecting you. Please, come in. I've set up tea in the sitting room." Brian put his arm in towards the inside of the flat and Clara entered the home with great enthusiasm. She walked through the foyer and past pictures of Rory as a child and some of Rory and Amy, which Clara observed with delight.

At the end of the hallway Clara turned into a larger room, the sitting room, where she saw something odd and unexpected - they were not alone. Clara's face fell and she became truly nervous, because she had been caught red-handed. For sitting there in front of her was The Doctor sipping tea and looking at her crossly – she was in trouble for sure.

"Clara Oswald, you could not stop yourself from meddling, could you?"'


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Clara stared at the two men sitting in front of her: The sad Mr. Williams and the cross Doctor. The tea was getting cold by now. Clara grabbed a biscuit and took a bite. She swallowed and began to talk nervously.

"I mean it has to be more than just a consequence. I had no idea that the books I was recommending to my students... to Artie and Angie - never knowing that Amelia Williams was Amy Pond. YourAmy Pond. Your wife's mother. A bit weird, eh, don't you think?"

Brian stood and turned his back to the two. Clara was not blind to the fact that her last words had hurt Brian - a look of guilt filled her face.

The Doctor lashed out, "Clara... Your meddling may feel like looking at people through a history book - but these are real people you're playing with. Real  _lives_  that were led. Not stories in a book."

Clara looked distressed. "I'm sorry." She stood and turned to Brian. "I am so, so, sorry."

"Just remember what curiosity did to the cat, Clara." The Doctor reprimanded her.

"No, no…" Brian turned to Clara. "It's not your fault." He looked at The Doctor. "She's just trying to help."

The Doctor looked at Brian and nodded his head, his face filled with emotion and respect for Brian.

Brian looked at Clara "You see the Doctor is just trying to protect me." Brian abruptly changed the subject. "I think I'll go upstairs for a bit of a lie down. After I water the plants. Someone needs to water the plants. Excuse me for a moment." He put his hand out. "Please stay. Have some more tea. There's a kettle on in the kitchen and some digestives in the cupboard, if you wish."

The Doctor walked up to Brian and gave him his best mate hug and then Brian was gone.

"You haven't told him, have you - about River..."

"No. And I don't plan on it." The Doctor pulled his waist coat down from the front.

"Look at him - you want to help him? Don't you think a possible great grandchild would give him happiness."

"He's already lost his son, his daughter-in-law and a granddaughter he barely knew - whether he knows she's gone or not. Give the man some peace."

"I'm talking about giving him hope. "

"False hope. You're talking about _false_  hope. I won't let him down like that. I made a promise."

"I don't think its false hope at all. Better to have fleeting love then have no love at all."

"This could take centuries."

"Oi! You have a time machine."

"Time can still slip by when you're traveling in time. It can still slip away. Right through your fingertips and poof, just gone. Millennia in an instant." He snapped his fingers to show how fleeting it could be. "Stay here and watch him, I'll be back. " The Doctor walked into the foyer and Clara heard the door close off in the distance.

~

Clara cleaned the dishes in Brian Williams' kitchen in a focused silence. She stopped for a moment and noticed a few indentations on the broom closet door with Rory's name and ages, the notches getting higher as he got older. She set her fingers in the groves for a moment and smiled.

"You don't have to do that," Brian's voice came from the doorway behind her in a sweet tone.

Clara turned and beamed, "You don't have a dishwasher."

"My late wife's problem, I'm afraid. She liked to do the dishes by hand - she said it relaxed her." He sauntered into the room. "I guess I never got around to getting one once she was gone."

"I bet she was lovely."

"Lovely, yes. A handful, yes." He smiled. "She would have loved that Rory married Amy. They were a lot alike. She died when Rory was a very young – he hardly knew her."

"Do you have a picture?" Clara smiled and turned the water off.

Brian smiled back and nodded his head. He then took a picture from a table outside the kitchen door. Clara grabbed a towel and wiped her hands while Brian walked back into the kitchen and handed her the picture. Clara looked at the framed photo of a very young Mrs. Williams with astonishment.

"She looks so much like River? How is that possible?"

"River? Oh, you mean Melody." He smiled and took the picture back. "She was my - well… Rory's daughter."

"But that can't be. River was Melody's third face - I mean regeneration - she had…"

"Time lord DNA – yes, The Doctor explained." He took the picture and looked at it again - the likeness was almost uncanny if you really thought about it. "Melody and the Doctor explained everything to me. Melody regenerated around her family - around Rory and Amy. The Doctor said environment affects... thoughts, even. Odds are she looked more like what her first body would have grown up to be, I saw Amy in her too - or maybe she took a face from her past. The Doctor said that can happen. She did meet my wife, when she was… well, it's so complicated. I don't even understand it as I'm re-telling it."

"You met River- I mean Melody?"

"A few times." He smiled bitter sweetly. "She doesn't come around much anymore." He put the photo down.

Clara didn't know what to say. She knew he needed something. "I'm sure she's just busy." She took Brian's hands. "Saving the universe and time and space and what not. Time-space archaeologist adventures and such." Her eyes began to tear and Brian saw it.

"Yes, I'm sure that's it." But it appeared as if Brian knew more than he was letting on.

"You're a sweet, girl. I see why The Doctor travels with you." He took a breath. "I think I have something I can trust you with. I think I know what you came here for."

Brian descended from the attic with a dusty box and handed it to Clara. She had an inquisitive look on her face as she took it. Brian nodded to her and Clara opened the cover of the box.

"It was in a box of things my grandson Anthony brought me from American. He said Rory and Amy wanted me to have them."

"This is Amelia Williams unpublished manuscript." Clara started to open and read the first few pages with exuberance.

"I've never read it. I can't bear to make myself - I tried, but she used real names - it was hard to..."

"Wait, you said she used real names?"

"Yes." He shook his head. "I assumed she was going to change the names later."

Clara had already started to read the second page. With excitement she looked up at Brian. "This isn't a story - this is a road map. This is a message from the past. Your daughter-in-law gave you a message."

Clara rushed out of the house. "Doctor!" she yelled. "I found it!" She ran into a small park of land across from Brian's house. "How do I find you? Doctor! Doctor!" She took a breath and spoke to herself. "Why don't I have a direct line to you!?" She paused. "What am I saying, I do!" She took out her phone and dialed. "Please still work. Pleassee!"

~

**November 1969 - New York City**

Amy Pond was always a beautiful woman, and at sixty-two she still was a vision, at least she was to Rory. Amy came home and placed her purse next to a door, as if it held weights. She soon saw her husband Rory, also sixty-two, his beard mixed with a little gray and his once ginger hair now more of a faded strawberry blonde. He had a worried look on his face - a look Amy hadn't seen in years.

"I know, I know I'm late." She walked slowly towards him. "I say I won't go looking for her - and yet I find myself - just… walking after work… I don't even know where." She shook her head. "I didn't find her," she stated as if she felt very foolish for even trying.

Amy looked to the left where she usually placed her keys and saw that the mirror above the wooden key pegs was broken, as well as a small window in the armoire on the adjoining wall.

"What happened, here?" She looked at Rory's face again and knew something was terribly wrong.

"You may have been looking in the wrong place."

Amy looked up to hear her daughter's voice. "Sorry about that…" River came into to view, her arm bleeding, she leaned against a back room door frame heaving heavy, as she held her nine month pregnant belly. "I underestimated the re-entry a bit."

Rory seemed in a panic as he carried a pot of boiled water into the bedroom. River screamed in pain for a moment, and then held it in, sweating everywhere, as Amy held her hand. Everyone seemed in a slight hysteria, yet River was the calmest out of all of them.

"Why do we need this again?' Rory said dropping the pot on a dresser causing a little water to dip over the edge and onto the wood.

"I don't know!" Amy retorted "I saw it in a movie once."

Rory gave her a terrible look. "I am a medical professional, I can handle this." He took in a large breath. "But for some reason I can't remember a  _bloody_  thing."

Amy noticed River's arm bandage was coming unraveled. "Rory, her bandage."

Rory ran to re-bind River's dressing.

"Really…" River took a breath and squeezed Amy's hand, still out of breath. "You both need to calm down. "

Amy looked her daughter in the eye. "Okay, so you're here and you're going to have this baby. I don't know why you're here or how you're here - but you are."

"Times like these a girl needs her mother," she smirked. River let out a small scream and pushed.

Rory put his hands up. "No, no, no yet, River, don't push. We need to ring a doctor."

"No, no - no doctor. No doctors. There can't be any record of this. None." She took a breath and squeezed Amy's hand again.

Rory looked perplexed and confused. "How long have you been in labor?"

River took a breath. "I don't know - ten hours maybe."

"Ten hours!" Rory was in shock. "You've only just gotten here."

"I had to wait for a window that the vortex manipulator could get me through. Ahhh…" She clenched her teeth.

Amy looked at Rory with dread. "Rory, see how dilated she is?"

"Me? No. You do it." Rory clammed up and his neck got tense.

"I'm busy up here…. at this end." She gestured toward River with her head.

"I'm not going to - at _this_  end…" He got awkward and gave Amy a look she didn't understand, so he finally verbalized it, "She's my daughter."

"Fine. Switch." Amy got it but still rolled her eyes in her husband's direction. Amy kissed River on the forehead and Rory took River's hand. River held tightly and Rory did the same.

**~**

Clara closed the manuscript in front of her as the Doctor paced around the Tardis.

"We don't know if this is even true," he mumbled deep in thought.

"You mean like  _Angel's Kiss_?" Clara retorted. "The Melody Malone book."

He stopped his pace and looked at her. "You've done your research." He was very proud of her.

"Of course. I have to leave a good example for my students, don't I?" she sassed him.

"Still, there are no records of a baby being born at that time or that place…" he said it as if speaking to himself.

"She said herself she didn't want a record... so, Amy wrote this... for  _you_. So, one day you could find your child - another child of Gallifrey."

"River and her child - our… I mean if this is even real, may have Time Lord DNA, but they would be children of earth - not a child of Gallifrey," he corrected her.

"But the child would…"

"… the high console would have to determine that. But I'm getting far ahead of myself…" he was no longer paying attention to Clara.

" _Still_ …" She tried to get his attention with no avail.

The Doctor faced Clara. "Do you understand what you have opened  _up?_  If this is true - even the idea of _THINKING_  it - the… the wars… the hell it could bring onto this child…" His eyes got teary. "Just me knowing… puts this child in danger." He gestured with both his hands. "I should never have pressed River to tell me. " He took the manuscript from Clara. "We have to put this back where you found it." He shook the manuscript at her.

"No…" Clara reached out and took hold of the manuscript at the other end. "Don't you want to know what happens next?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you! I can't know what happens next. I mean, even if this  _were_ true. Which we don't know. It's just a story." He still held the manuscript from its edges, still in Clara's hands and he gestured with it. "And if it's just a story - it's safe - they're safe. From me. From everything I bring with me. " He took a step away from Clara, releasing his grip from the manuscript, and eyed the Tardis console. "I know you read her diary. River's diary."

"Oh…" Clara looked nervous to what his reaction would be.

"Yes, 'oh'." He turned to her. "You read the whole thing, I assume." He turned away from her again.

"Whatever they didn't redact and I did skip over all the racy bits…" She smirked.

"You skipped over the racy bits?" He turned and looked at her surprised.

"No… I didn't." Her eyes perked up and she gave him a girlish look.

"What's that about?!" He pointed his finger at her and waved it around. "Don't look at me like that - see now I feel like - no, no… What did she say? No on, don't tell me?" He turned away from Clara. "No, tell me." He turned toward her. "No, no…. Do not tell me." He turned away making his jacket flip to the side with the motion and then took in Clara's face from the corner of his left eye. "Oh, shut up!" He threw his hands up and turned away.

"Let's just say I think there's a good chance that Amelia Williams' story really happened?" She rolled on her heels and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Okay…" He paced.

" _Ohhh_ , you're thinking..." Clara got excited. "I like this. This is good."

He faced her. "I'm always thinking, Clara. I'm a Time Lord. I can think and do a million and one tasks and calculations in my head and chew gum at the same time!"

"Well there's no reason to be a knob head about it," Clara frowned.

"Even taking the manipulator to 1969 New York would have been hard. She had one shot. She had to have known she could never get two people out. So, the baby, _if_  there was a baby, I'm not saying there was or  _is_ , would have had to stay in 1969…"

"Two people? I don't understand? But she was  _two people_ when she popped in?"

"Yes, but it was part of her - still it was a bouncy re-entry, that's why she smashed into the mirror in the foyer - slashed her arm. I mean according to the story… if it really happened."

"The orphans…" Clara uttered deep in thought.

"Excuse me?" The Doctor liked the sound of that. "Say that again." He pointed at her.

"The orphans… according to a news article I found, Amelia… I mean Amy and Rory Williams…." Clara pulled a print out of a news item out of her purse. "… started taking in foster children sometime after their son Anthony went to college. She could have easily hidden -"

"No, but it can't be that easy - can it? Could it?" He began to ponder.

"So, let's go back to 1969 New York then and find out."

"We can't. I've just finished telling you - 1969 New York is still a hot spot – even attempting it could rip New York right off the planet. Not to mention the paradoxes we could cause. I don't even know how River did it. "

"See, I hear words coming out of your face, but I do not understand what they mean."

"Oh, for god sake, Clara - how long have you been traveling with me - you haven't picked up something!"

"Oi! I was joking, I know what that means, I'm saying I'm taking what you're saying and I'm ignoring it. Amy left you a message so you'd be keen to follow it, Mister. You traveled with her for, what, eh, ten years? You can't say she wouldn't have sent you this if there wasn't reason."

"We can't go risk killing millions of people on your instincts. Too tricky..." He got another thought. "And since when are you are Amy's side? You never even met her."

"Let's just call it's a Tardis Travelers Sisterhood." Clara paused to be sure what she said hadn't sounded odd and then nodded her head in confidence. "Yeah."

The Doctor took a breath. "Well, before we do something that could burn New York or more. Not that I'm saying we're doing this - we have to be sure." He started to push buttons and levers on the Tardis console.

"How do we do that?"

"Just what you've been doing. Good-old fashioned detective work." He smirked at her. "We're going to meet my brother-in-law." He pulled a few levers and hit a button.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The Doctor and Clara stepped out of the Tardis into an amazing vista of blue skies and green as far as the eye could see.

"I don't understand?" Clara looked around. "This isn't America? I thought you we're taking me to America?"

"Why does everyone go so crazy about America? It's not all it's cracked up to be, you know? You've been to one mall; you've been to all of them. If I wanted to go to M & M World I'd just go to Leicester Square. Ohh, yes, remind me after we leave to find some chocolate. Good plan. I like that plan." He took out his screwdriver and checked out their surroundings. "Plus, every time I go to America something bad happens. " He read the readings on the sonic.

"Isn't that every place we go to?

"Shhhh." He finished checking the sonic and then looked up. "I thought so…." He closed the sonic "We're in Scotland," he said surprised by his own deduction.

The Doctor looked at the bottom end of his sonic to be sure it was working properly, making the front of the sonic face Clara.

"Human," spoke a voice from the screwdriver.

"It talks? Haven't seen it do that before. That's new."

"It's a byproduct of the DNA search - I relayed it into the sonic so I can keep track of the scan's progress. Bad bit is it scans every life form it's pointed at." He took the screwdriver and pointed it towards himself.

"Time Lord," it squeaked.

"See," he smiled. "Comes in handy at costume balls. And much better than the machine that goes ding - what a disaster that was."

They looked up at the house in front of them off in the distance. It was a white two level home with no sight of another property for miles, green shutters and a door with a large wrap around porch.

Clara decided to take up the reigns and forge ahead. "Well, let's go up to the house and see if we found the right place. Clue hunting, eh?" And Clara raised her eyebrows at the Doctor with a spirited grin and then forged ahead.

The Doctor and Clara walked up to a few kids playing in the yard - the Doctor smiled.

"Hello, children." He waved and the children stopped playing Football. "Can you tell us if we've found the Williams home? We're looking for  _Anthony_ Williams."

A little boy about ten years old with an American accent spoke up. "That's my grandfather."

"Okay then…" The Doctor took a breath. "Can you bring me to him?" He clasped his hands together.

A girl about eight with black braids looked at the Doctor oddly. "You're wearing a bow tie…"

The Doctor fixed his tie and got a little cocky. "Yes, I am."

~

The Doctor followed the little boy from the lawn into the open door. Clara and The Doctor waited in the foyer, as the boy ran up the large wooden stairs. The girl with the braids and five other children hovered in the outside doorway and watched. Clara noticed pictures on a table near the door, they were of Rory and Amy, but the picture was old and in black and white – the couple looked in their forties.

"Can I help you?" spoke a booming American voice from the top of the stairs - a New York accent for sure.

The Doctor and Clara faced the stairs to see a man in his 60's holding a wrench in a way that made it look as if he didn't know how to weld one.

"You're not here to fix our plumbing are you?" Anthony joked and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his forearm.

"Grandpa!" A second girl with two little black braid whined in the older man's direction, appearing behind him. "I wanna take a shower."

"Soon, baby, I'm trying as fast as I can." He hugged her to his side.

"Are you Anthony Williams?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes...?"

The Doctor smiled large. "Hello," he said with a few tears in his eyes.

Clara spoke up. "We're friends of Brian Williams."

The girl, who now held Anthony's leg, whispered to him in her American accent, "Grandpa, he's wearing a bow tie."

Anthony looked at his granddaughter. "Sweetie, go outside and play with your cousins, okay."

The girl nodded and walked out somber, as if she was about to miss all the fun.

Anthony looked at the Doctor as if he was staring at a ghost or a character from a story book. "You're wearing a bow-tie," he said with great pathos. He knew this day would come and he was more than pleased.

Clara, The Doctor and Anthony stood in a dark study at the corner of the house, lined with books and brown wood. Anthony spoke to the Doctor, but every so often would glance out the window to check on his grandkids playing in the yard.

The Doctor eyed a large row of books with a familiar name on the binding: Amelia Williams. He took one of the books off the shelf and looked at the cover: The title of the book was "The Disappearing Men" with a drawing on the cover of a man in a black suit and an arm outreached, looking very much like a human version of a Silence. Next to the man on the cover were two scared children with hash marks on their arms and faces.

"I see your mother used our travels together in her books." The Doctor smirked and put the book back on the shelf and turned to Anthony. "You should hear what really happened."

The Doctor smiled, but Anthony seemed to have an agenda, deep in thought, looking out the window. The Doctor then noticed a bowl of chocolates with an excited face. He reached for them, but was stopped by the slap of Clara's hand who then gave him a cross look and nodded her head towards Anthony. The Doctor mouthed "sorry" at an exasperated Clara who took a breath and thanked god it had all happened behind Mr. Williams' back.

Anthony continued speaking. "At first you think your parents are crazy, but then they start to predict sporting events and historical moments and then one day on a gap year you run into your parents looking younger than you've ever seen them in a pub in London." He turned to the Doctor and Clara. "I went to their wedding." He said in shock. "More like I hid in the back." He took a photo off a desk table and showed it to The Doctor. "One day they just picked up and went to Florida and came back with an arm load of pictures. The summer before my junior year of college." The picture was that of a young River from the orphanage. "Told me the whole story. It was the first time I saw my father cry." Anthony gently set the framed photo back from where he had taken it.

"But they never mentioned if River, I mean Melody…." The Doctor couldn't say it. He sat down in a chair a few inches from where he was standing.

"Had a child?" Clara was far more blunt about asking.

"No." Anthony sat down in a chair in front of The Doctor while Clara stood behind The Doctor's chair and listened.

"I assume since you can't ask my sister herself…." He couldn't say the words he felt to be true, that River was dead.

The Doctor nodded his head and tears came to Anthony's eyes, for a sister he had never met.

Clara chimed in. "She died a hero; she saved thousands of lives."

Anthony looked the Doctor in the eye. "She was happy? You made her happy? That's all my parents wanted."

The Doctor made sure the tears didn't fall. "She often told me so and I chose to believe her." The Doctor stood. "We should go. We've imposed enough." He sent his hand through his hair and off his forehead.

Anthony stood. "No, please. Stay. My entire family is here, they all know the stories. Stay. We only come here once a year."

"I'll do you one better." The Doctor smiled. "I'll fix your plumbing." He raised his screwdriver out from his jacket pocket.

**~**

The Doctor laid on his back under the pipes of William's cellar, trying to figure out how to fix their water issue.

Clara stood above him holding his jacket folded over her arm. She didn't have a happy look on her face. "I thought when you said you would sort out their plumbing you meant you were gonna sonic it."

"You don't think I tried? It's using too much energy on the DNA scan you _conned_  me into doing."

" _Conned_  you?"

"Go outside and play with the children."

"I love children, but outside school it feels more like a busman's holiday most of the time." She shifted her weight and looked at her feet for a moment. "What you told me outside Unit…." She waited for the Doctor to say something, but he didn't. "About River…." Still the Doctor said nothing. "I bet Anthony would luv to hear that, yeah? About a sister he never met?" She leaned in with her head. "It helps sometime, I find, to talk with another person… over the loss of a mutual loved one - someone close to you –"

"What do you want from me, Clara?" The Doctor grumbled." I said good-bye at Trenzolare - at the Library. I've had my closure.  _Now, lay off my back_ ," he said the last line trying to sound cool and modern, but it only came out awkwardly. The Doctor then accidentally smacked his hand with the wrench and he shook his fingers in pain. "Owww. That hurt," he said, seemingly shocked.

"Yeah, you deserve that, you do," she scolded him for his tone and attitude.

One of the young girls with the black braids came down the stairs. "Is it working yet? "

Clara smiled at the girl. "No, not yet. We might have to wait for the  _real_  workman to come." She gave the Doctor a cheeky look and he stuck his tongue out at her. She turned back towards the little girl "You're Amanda, right?"

"No, that's my younger cousin; I'm "the other one"." The girl seemed to feel less than her similar looking cousin. The girl then walked closer to the Doctor "Are you really  _The_ _Doctor_?"

"Yes. You've heard about me." He seemed delighted.

"Yes."

"Great things?" The Doctor stopped what he was doing with the pipes and looked at her – a conceited look on his face.

"No."

"Oh." He was not expecting that answer.

Clara tried not to laugh. The Doctor returned to the pipes with his wrench.

"I heard you trapped my great grandparents in the past."

"Well, technically, the Weeping Angels did, but… well, long story. What's your name?" He sat up and tossed the wrench next to him on the floor.

"Daphne."

"Daphne." The Doctor leapt to his feet. "What a name!  _Daphne!_ Deviation: Greek Mythology – a Naiad or a Female Nymph associated with streams brooks and other bodies of freshwater. What a perfect name for a Pond!" He approached Clara and the little girl.

"I'm not a Pond, I'm a Williams."

"Same difference. Why aren't you playing with your cousins?" The Doctor took a rag off a shelf and cleaned his hands of grit.

"I don't like sports. I like to read."

"Reading is a sport." The Doctor noticed a book under her arm. What are you reading?" He took the book and put on his glasses. "Quantum Logic," he read the title out-loud. "Seems like heavy reading for a ten year old?" He handed the book back.

"I'm eleven. Just small for my age." Daphne took her book back from The Doctor.

"And smart. Which one of the adults out there are you parents?" He gestured towards the outside.

"My parents are dead, I live with my grandfather."

"I see." The Doctor smiled. "Do you want to hang out here with us? Down here?"

"Yes," Daphne said gleefully.

The Doctor grinned back at her.

**~**

After dinner The Doctor was surrounded by the children in the house. All twenty of the Williams' grandkids ran around him like the pied piper - a mix of mostly dark hair, blonde and few ginger heads. Off to the side about four of Anthony's children and spouses watched with delight and more than a few glasses of wine.

Clara walked up to Anthony, as the rest of his children cleaned the dishes and cleared the table in the kitchen and dining room.

"Is he always like this?" Anthony asked.

"I'm afraid so," Clara responded joyfully, causing Anthony to laugh. "He's a bit  _weird,_  but you get used to it," she said playfully.

"Come on kids, let's play a game." The Doctor motioned all the children together.

Daphne ran past her grandfather with a smile on her face and joined the group of children with delight.

Anthony folded his arms and leaned into Clara. "Daphne usually hates playing with the other kids. He's really taken her out of her shell."

A man came up from the basement washing his hands with a rag. "Water all fixed," he said with a Scottish accent.

Everyone cheered.

Daphne ran for the stairs. "I get the shower first."

"Daphne!' The Doctor yelled. "You'll miss the game."

"I need to wash my hair!" she shouted, as she exited up the stairs and disappeared.

Anthony chuckled. "She's already a teenager."

"Okay, children," The Doctor exclaimed and clasp his hands together.

The kids shrieked back in excitement and The Doctor started explaining a new game for them to play. After about thirty minutes of play time with the Doctor the children were getting a little bored. The Doctor pointed to young Jeremy with his sonic; as he was next to play. He was a boy with an English father, brought up in Sussex, and therefore spoke with an English accent.

"Human." The sonic sounded and the young ones laughed.

"Is that all it does?" Jeremy questioned in an ill-mannered way.

"Don't be rude, Jeremy," The Doctor reprimanded him. "And sometimes, lately, yes." The Doctor pointed his sonic in the direction of each child and each time it repeated the word: Human. He next pointed it towards a chair, repeating the word chair - the same went for much of the things and objects in the room, each time telling the object or person's history - the children loved it.

He pointed it at Jeremy next. "Jeremy Williams. Sleeps with a night light."

The kids laughed, Jeremy did not. The Doctor gave Jeremy a look with his eyes and head that said,  
"Don't mess with me." He then blew on the end of the sonic like it was a gun in an old western.

The Doctor pointed the sonic at himself and it said, "Time Lord". The children laughed and he then pointed it toward the stairway, only to have it repeat the words, "Time Lord" again.

"Oh, no, it must be broken," he pointed it toward Clara and it said "Human". He pointed it toward the staircase and it again spoke: "Time Lord. Time Lord. Child of Gallifrey."

The Doctor took the screwdriver and shook it, "Well, that can't be right." He put his ear to the sonic.

Daphne appeared from the stairs, her hair now clean, dry and curly to high heaven. "Okay, I'm ready to play now."

The Doctor saw her hair and gulped. He pointed the screwdriver towards Daphne with a hesitant fear. The room was silent. "Time Lord. Time Lord. Time Lord. Lost child."

**~**

"You lied to us." The Doctor was very unhappy, back in the same room where just hours before Anthony had kept the truth from him.

"I promised Melody. I promised my sister." Anthony seemed fraught with what he had done, but he knew it was for a better good.

"So, you've met her?" The Doctor seemed to find a sense of joy in the moment, yet also a sense of betrayal at perhaps another lie.

"No, no. Through my parents. I promised them I'd keep the secret."

"So, the story is true?" Clara asked with all seriousness.

The Doctor wasn't buying it and gestured toward the other room. "It can't be! That girl was born almost twelve years ago,  _not_  in 1969."

"You found the manuscript." Anthony seemed to be ahead of them.

"Yes…" The Doctor was not use to people being ahead of him, only River.

Anthony paused before speaking. "You don't know the whole story then, do you?"

"It would appear not," The Doctor answered indignantly. He waited for an answer.

"Daphne isn't your daughter, Doctor...she's your granddaughter."

The Doctor sat down. "I feel I need to sit." He took a breath. "So, one of Daphne's parents, one of her dead parents is… was…" He knew what that meant; another of his children were no longer living.

"Yes." Anthony walked up to the Doctor. "I don't know why she didn't regenerate. Or if she could. I wasn't there when she… She was like my own sister. I took her in after my parents passed away. Treated her like my own daughter, my wife and I both did."

"Do you have a picture?" He gummed his lips for a moment deep in through. "A picture. Do you have one?"

Anthony nodded his head and pulled out his mobile phone. He scrolled through a few pictures and then showed The Doctor the photo he had settled on. The Doctor took a breath and took the mobile from Anthony. She looked just like River, almost a little like Amy too, and barely in her thirties, with ginger hair. The tears in the Doctor's eyes began to fall.

Anthony put his hand on The Doctor's shoulder. "It's one thing to find out you have a daughter, but to also lose her in the same day. I'm sorry." Anthony took a breath and The Doctor handed him back the phone.

Clara put her hand on The Doctor's arm for support.

"I've been a father and a grandfather and after over a thousand years… it never gets any easier." The Doctor held in his composer in such an emotional moment, but his stoic face still gave away his despair. He looked up at Anthony. "When?"

"Ten years ago. She never knew she wasn't completely human. Daphne doesn't know either."

"So, you kept this secret from them. From me." The Doctor glared at Anthony.

"I made a promise."

The Doctor knew all about promises. "I could have protected them. I could have - this is a secret that shouldn't have been kept from me." He stood, distraught, and then appeared to argue the other side of the coin. "Yet, don't know these days. I've been thinking, ruminating, that maybe it should have been. Clara had to drag me here, kicking and screaming. Maybe... myself… knowing gives away the secret even more. And River knew that. Maybe she was protecting them _from_  me." He lowered his head.

"Wait." Anthony saw he had taken them down the wrong path. "You think they were the  _secret_? Daphne and her mother?" This got Clara and The Doctor's attention for sure. "No, no. Well, I guess I can't keep it from you any longer." Anthony opened the door to his study and motioned Daphne to come in.

The sweet girl with the dark curly locks slowly walked into the room. The Doctor lit up as Daphne entered the study. Clara closed the door behind Daphne and stood a few paces behind the girl.

"Come here, Sweetheart," Anthony beckoned, before leaning down to her level as she approached. "Show me the pendant – your locket."

The girl nodded and pulled a blue locket from around her own neck, it had been hidden under her jumper the entire time. The piece of jewelry was a Tardis blue with what looked like Gallifreyan writing on it. The Doctor stood and walked closer to Daphne, and the locket, to take a better look.

"What does it say?" Clara asked The Doctor, trying to take a peak.

The Doctor took hold of the face of the locket in his hands and read it out loud with shock and emotion. "It says "Melody Pond." It was a big clue for sure. The Doctor let go of the locket, letting it gently fall onto Daphne's chest.

"It was my mother's," Daphne spoke up, "How can it say "Melody Pond" - it's just pictures." She looked at The Doctor with disbelief.

"That's Gallifreyan, right?" Clara questioned in a whispered now that she could see the face of the locket more clearly. "Why I can't read it – even with the translation thing-a-ma-bob, yeah?"

"Old High Gallifreyan, in fact. Virtually a dead language, even to the Time Lords… before they were…  _lost_.

"I bet you River knew it." Clara egged him on.

"Yes..." He seemed frighten at what they had discovered. "She did." He swallowed hard – he didn't look well from Clara's point of view. "Very well, in fact."

Anthony spoke to the Doctor and Clara. "Melody left it with Daphne's mother when she was born and we've never been able to open it. She told my mother the locket was  _the secret_ , to keep it close; as long as she or any offspring of my sisters had this pendent – the locket - around their neck they would be safe - protected. She said it was 'the key.'"

The Doctor lost his balance for a moment and whispered to himself: "The key to finding what is lost lies with the child of two Doctors. Then what is lost will be returned. For better or worse."

Clara looked at him oddly. "What? What are you saying?"

"The prophecy," he whispered and ran his hand over his mouth for a moment.

"The prophecy?" Clara looked at The Doctor in an off center matter. "Hang on, that can't be right, that's not the prophecy. You...you told me it was rubbish, you told me it was  _nothing_." Clara was not happy with The Doctor.

"It's true," he said to himself, scared for what was to come. "It's all true." He took a step back.

"You lied to me?" Clara felt wounded.

Anthony spoke before The Doctor could. "Rule number one: The Doctor lies."

"So, what does the prophecy mean?" Clara asked exasperated.

"Time to find out." The Doctor said with excitement and a small amount of trepidation. "Time to look inside."

Clara looked puzzled at The Doctor and then towards Anthony. "But you can't open it."

"It doesn't open," Daphne spoke up to concur.

"That's because it's sonic locked." The Doctor took out his screwdriver and zapped the locket. He then got a sore look on his face and viewed the sonic's readings. "Looks like someone else was here before us."

"How can you possibly know that?" Clara asked and folded her arms.

"The sonic can tell," The Doctor said softly.

"Why are you so interested in my old locket?" Daphne placed both her hand on the locket, as if for protection.

The Doctor looked at her intently. "I'm sorry, Daphne, I promise  _we will_  tell you, but for now I need to borrow this locket for a moment."

Anthony nodded his head towards Daphne to trust The Doctor. Daphne dipped her head down and took off the locket as asked, but still she looked unsure. Anthony walked over to Daphne and put his hands on her shoulders from behind for support. The Doctor crouched down and Daphne placed the locket in the palm of his hand.

"Thank you." The Doctor grinned at her. "I promise to take extra special care of it."

The Doctor stood and opened the locket carefully. As he did an old and folded piece of paper fell from inside the locket, but just as if was about to hit the floor The Doctor caught it with one hand.

Clare was anxious with anticipation as The Doctor opened the paper to find it was a ripped piece of parchment.

"What is it?" Clara inquired, while Anthony looked on breathless to know the answer as well. "Is that a page from River's diary? It looks like a page from River's Diary."

The Doctor finished reading the paper and took a breath, looking ashen-faced. "It's half of coordinates. In River's hand. A little more than what Kate showed us." He gestured toward them with the paper.

"Half?" Clara questioned.

The Doctor showed the group how it had been ripped in half.

Clara's eyes sprouted up. "The missing page."

"I beg your pardon?" The Doctor looked at Clara, feeling a sense of déjà vu.

"When I read River's diary, there was a missing page. I assumed it meant she was like you, didn't like endings - ripped out the last page or two." Clara smiled large.

The Doctor scanned the locket. "This locket, it's a DNA cloaker, except for sonic tech, well  _my_  sonic tech - It's configured to my signal." He got quiet all of a sudden and spoke softly, as if to himself. "Oh River, you clever girl. You clever, clever girl." He shook his head and still spoke softly. "She wouldn't have access to a Chameleon Arch, so she improvised. " The Doctor continued to scan all around the locket with his screwdriver and then checked the readings. "This locket," The Doctor spoke up to the group. "... is made from three different types of the strongest metals in the known universe: Crantinum, Impervium and Arnickleton." He gestured with the locket. "This device was made with great care to be impenetrable and  _indestructible."_

Anthony was floored. "I'm guessing my sister didn't buy it at the shop around the corner?"

"Not unless that shop is in the 51st Century," The Doctor answered with panache.

"The fifty-what century?" Anthony's head was spinning. "I think I need to sit." Anthony sat down in the same chair the Doctor had previously been sitting in.

"She found it. Didn't she?" Clara asked trying to hold in her enthusiasm.

"Found what?" Anthony questioned.

"Gallifrey," The Doctor answered with pathos and whimsy.

"She found it! I knew it." Clara almost jumped for joy.

"Not so fast - this is half a page - and we know someone else has been in that locket. Who and why? And why rip it in half?"

"Name a million people who don't want Gallifrey found?" Clara questioned, knowing there were tons. "You can't tell me that locket wasn't made to house a  _very_  big secret. If not the biggest secret in the  _entire_ universe."

"It doesn't necessarily mean it's Gallifrey… or that's what the prophecy _means_..." The Doctor tried to convince himself it wasn't true, but he couldn't.

"You looked pretty convinced before when you went white as a sheet on Sunday."

" But…" The Doctor took a breath.

" _But_?" Clara's eyes sparkled at The Doctor.

"The evidence seems to suggest so, yes."

"Why did she give it to her daughter, then?" Clara questioned.

"Yes, why indeed... For protection? For safe keeping? She wasn't joking, River, she needed some way to project her child,  _our child_  from the universe, from suffering her own fate. And what would be the best way to do that – by, yes, protecting her with the biggest secret in the universe... Hidden in plain sight…."

Clara chimed in, "So, she ripped her biggest findings out of that book and stuffed it in that locket. Like insurance?" Clara excitement was through the roof.

"Yes." He nodded his head. "It would appear so." He shook his head again. "Not to mention if the Time Lords do come back it proves to them whoever is wearing this locket is a friend. It keeps the map hidden and from falling into the wrong hands, as  _well_  as keeping watch over whoever is wearing it. Protection of all shades. Omni purpose; one device. " He was becoming more and more impressed with River's actions. He did one final scan of the locket with his screwdriver. "Ohhh, yes, of course! The inside cover doubles as a scanning device – ripping the page makes the map appear to still be present, but  _folded_. If the map is not detected the locket would emit a distress pulse."

"Where? To who?" Clara was surprised by the Doctor's last discovery.

"To the Tardis." The Doctor got a goofy grin on his face. He closed the screwdriver with a satisfied look, as if that was all the proof he needed to know this was all River's doing and mostly for his benefit. "She thought of everything. "

"If she was trying to hide all this from you why send a distress signal to the Tardis?"

"The Tardis is smart. River knew that. She knew the Tardis would know just where to re-direct the call through the Time Vortex… to whomever,  _wherever_ , could help. Like a  _cosmic_ switchboard. Maybe even when it was appropriate... to myself. In the right time. Or she wouldn't have locked it except to my sonic only." He smiled large. "She's good, huh? Really, good." He was almost giddy.

Clara smirked. "A clue, yeah?" she stated with rhetorical sass and a raise of her eyebrows.

His toothy grin had yet to leave The Doctor's face. "Oh, BIG clue!"

Anthony looked on dumbfounded. "I have no idea what you two are talking about."

The Doctor turned his gaze on Anthony. "Yes, indeed, let me explain." He put his sonic back in his inner jacket pocket. "But, first you wouldn't happen to have some tea and perhaps a Jammie Dodger or two?"

Clara rolled her eyes.

**~**

The Doctor walked out of Anthony's study finishing their conversation while at the same time brushing a few crumbs off his jacket sleeve. "I've scanned the document into my sonic and placed the paper back in the locket and sonic-ed it closed. This way the locket can still protect Daphne."

"From what?" Anthony was concerned.

"I don't know. But I promise to come back and find out," he said with all sincerity. "For now, the locket needs to continue what it already has been doing," He put his hand on Anthony's shoulder. "Protecting her."

"Are you leaving already?" Daphne spoke up while her cousins ran behind her in a huddle.

The Doctor looked at the girl dotingly and kneeled down to her level. "Yes…" He put the locket back around her neck and clasped it closed. "Thank you for…" He got emotional looking into her eyes. "Thank you for lending me your locket." He smiled and held in his feelings. "I put it back in safe hands. Never take it off, promise me that. " He put both his hands on the side of her head and brushed her hair for a moment, before sending a few strands to the side of her face and kissing her forehead. He looked into her eyes again. "You remind me of one of my granddaughters. Susan. You have her eyes." He took her wrists. "You be a good girl and I'll be back soon…" He looked down for a moment trying to get his footing through his emotions when he noticed something on the inside of Daphne's wrist: three hash marks. The Doctor's face grew grim. "Daphne… where did these come from?"

Daphne peered oddly at the marks. "I don't know…"

Anthony walked closer to see. "What is it?"

The Doctor looked concerned. "Daphne, do you read your great grandmother's stories?"

Anthony spoke up. "She's read them all... at least three times."

The Doctor stood up and pulled down his jacket from the sides. "Anthony, I need you to retrieve your children and grandchildren and bring them into the house and do it promptly. Make-sure no one is unaccounted for."

Anthony nodded his head and ran out the door.

The Doctor clasped his hands together. "Children: Daphne, Allen, Geoffrey, Rory, Zev, I need you to all go into the living room and wait for your family to meet you. Go along now."

The children did what the Doctor told them, but Daphne took a final look at The Doctor as if to say, "please don't go".

The Doctor smiled bitter sweetly and nodded his head. "Run along now. I'll be right there." Once she was gone The Doctor's face turned back to concern.

"What's wrong?" Clara asked. "I've never seen your face so worried."

"Clara, do you by chance have an eye liner pencil?"

"Yeah…" She was perplexed. "But I don't think it's your colour," Clara sassed him, but he didn't play back and that worried her.

"Just take it out quickly, please." The Doctor took out his sonic and pointed it towards different areas of the room, before ending up at the back door entrance from the kitchen to the foyer.

"Okay…" Clara took an eyeliner pencil out of her purse, after a moment of searching. "What am I using it…" But she stopped speaking mid-thought as she looked up in front of her - for that was when she saw it. Dressed in a suit, its hand out stretched with its large bony fingers - was a Silence. Soon there were two hanging from the ceiling, and three behind the first one, as if out of thin air.

"Where… did they come from?

"They've always been here." The Doctor didn't take his eyes off the main one in front of them.

"What are they?"

"Trouble." The Doctor looked terrified - not so much for himself, but for the William's family safety. "They are Silences. The Order of the Silence."

"Wait, you mentioned those, I thought they were your friends now or something?"

"A certain sect of them, yes. But there is a sect that broke off - the Korvorian sect, not my friends. Not my friends in any sense of the word. At least in their time stream."

"Their time stream?"

"Funny thing about being a time traveler..." The Doctor walked backwards slowly and Clara followed suit. "Don't turn around, trust me. Just keep looking at them..."

"Okay?" Clara was perplexed, but she did what she was told.

"...When you're a time traveler someone can one day be your friend and another day be your enemy... for something you did in  _their_ past and  _your_ future. "

"I'm gonna guess these guys haven't caught up, yet?"

"Yes. And fast."

"Fast?

"I should have sorted out the locket had some kind of DNA cloaker on it sooner. How could I be so careless?" This was the first time Clara noticed how many hash marks the Doctor was making on his arm, as many as there were Silences, who were now slowly following them. "As soon as I took it off, that locket, anyone scanning the universe for a Time Lord could hone in on this spot. The Tardis usually runs interference for me, unless someone knows where to look." He took Clara's hand. "Okay," he looked at her. "You ready?"

"For what?"

He looked at her. "To Run." And they were off like a shot, out the door, across the green lawn, and into the Tardis.

**~**

The Doctor made a bee-line to the control console

"Where are we going? We can't just leave them!" Clara exclaimed. "What were we running from again?" She took a moment. "I keep forgetting and remembering them."

"It's what they do. In 1969 I fixed a little something; let's just call it a  _thing_  – one of my greatest of many things. Made them scared to be seen on Earth ever again, but for some reason they're back. And we are  _not_  leaving The Williams... we're bait." He hit a few switches. "As long as Daphne keeps that locket around her neck they will have no idea what is right under their noses - " He ran past Clara to another side of the Tardis. "Hopefully they will assume it was my DNA and come after us." He hit another button and a keyboard sprung out, he hastily typed in a message Clara couldn't see.

Clara didn't look happy at The Doctor's last remark. "Hopefully?!"

"Besides, we have a time machine." He smiled, flipped a switch, and then another on the dash to his left.

"An unreliable one!"

The Tardis shook and Clara had to get her footing for a moment.

"She didn't mean it, Darling." The Doctor kissed the dash. "She doesn't understand our relationship."

"Men and their toys." Clara folded her arms. "Bait, eh? What are we going to do, out run them through time and space, and the galaxy? That's worked out so well already for us?  _Well_ , for you."

"We're going to stop them from coming here at all, aren't we?" He looked up at the Tardis ceiling. "Time to save, River again," he whispered. "After all we owe her for saving us so many times more, don't we?" The Doctor looked at Clara. "And don't worry about the Williams', I've called in reinforcements, just in case."

A good-looking man with a gun and a flowing coat stood in the doorway of the Williams home.

"Hello," he said in an American accent. "My name is Captain Jack Harkness, I'm a friend of The Doctor's, and I'm here to protect you."

"Where are we going?!" Clara folded her arms back in the Tardis, still unconvinced.

He looked at Clara. "1969 New York." The Doctor went back to piloting the Tardis. "Landing lights on. Check."

"Wait, no – _no_! You said we couldn't go there – that you didn't know how - that we were guaranteed to burn the universe or the planet, or something - whatever it is. I'm IN that right now - that universe I mean, and I'd like to stay in it, the universe, you know - living - thank you very much."

"That was 1938, New York. And it wouldn't burn the entire universe," he said to her as if she was being terribly dense. "Just New York. You haven't been paying attention. " He pointed to his temple. "Attempting 1969 New York would be about a fifty percent chance of burning it and us off the face of the planet. That's how River got in. We'd need far more ships to burn the  _entire_  universe."

Clara almost snorted sarcastically, "Oh, yeah, I feel better about it now!"

The Doctor continued to fiddle with the console deep in thought and action. "…Too many time distortions... New York itself is a temporal hot spot. Time distortions are like scar tissue along certain places in  _space_ and  _time_. Caused by …anachronisms. Things. People. Out of place, out of time. The denser the scar tissue, the harder it is to get through. _Pushing_  against that scar tissue causes friction. Last time I had to use a signal lock just to get the Tardis through and even that was a bit dodgy. I created so much scar tissue it sealed off the entire time line – I scrambled it. Most of it. But that was before I had this." He pulled a strand of hair from his pocket, opened a slot and threw it in.

"What's that?"

"A strand of hair. I took it off Daphne's head. A perfect DNA lock can cut our odds in almost half… well, about thirty five point five five percent."

"I'm a school teacher; I know math and that's still not great odds! You know what are great odds? One-hundred percent!"

The Doctor wasn't listening as he focused on his task. "Yes, yes, I think I have it, I don't know how I didn't think of it before. Ohhhhh, I am so  _slow!_! That's how River was able to hone herself in - she used her DNA to lock in on Rory and Amy. And I can do the same. I can use Daphne's DNA to hone in off her mother's DNA… Okay, I've almost got it." He dashed around the console like a choreographed dance, pulling levels and pressing buttons. "The more specific a pin point the easier a lock to pull us in. My DNA wasn't pure enough - All Time Lord - Daphne is a direct descendant, enough human and enough Time Lord to work... YES!" He pulled down a level and they shot off like a bullet. "We have to find that map before someone else does or the entire universe could be toast. Or at least eggs Benedict. "

Clara still looked terrified. "Didn't you say a scan like that could take millions to billions of years?"

"Like I said." His face had a confident glee to it. "Not unless we know  _where_ to look." The Doctor stopped what he was doing when he saw Clara's face. "That map is far too dangerous in the wrong hands. Trust me, Clara, I know I what I'm doing." He paused. "Well sort of. Kind of. Maybe. " He pulled another lever and the Tardis went ever faster through the Time Vortex, shaking violently. The Doctor's hair flew behind him. Clara grabbed onto the console for dear life, as The Doctor yelled, "Geronimo."

"You could have told me to find something to hold on to!" she shouted to The Doctor over the noise.

"You'd better hold on to something!"

"It's a bit late for that!"

"Doctor!" They heard a muffled voice from under the console. "Doctor!?"

Clara and The Doctor looked at each other as if to say "do you hear that?" They both determined a certain hatch it was coming from and then they each made their way towards it, holding on to something at each step. The Doctor, who was the closest now, opened the hatch to find a terrible surprise: none other than his granddaughter Daphne poking her head out.

"Daphne?!" Clara and The Doctor shirked.

"Am I really a Time Lord?" Daphne asked.

"Oh, noooo" The Doctor looked at Clara. "Oh, nooo."

The Tardis jerked and Daphne fell into The Doctor's arms, there was another jerk and the Tardis slowed down a bit – still another visitor was approaching and another familiar voice ripped through the air.

"What in god's name do you think you're doing!?" And River Song, alive as can be, appeared from one of the doors to the console room.

"Ohhh. Nooo." The Doctor said softly and in shock – his eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. "This is not good, not good at all."

"River!?" Clara said loud enough for River to hear. "Is here?" She looked at the Doctor in shock. " _Here."_  Her eyes were as big as saucers.

"Doctor..." But before Daphne could say another word The Doctor covered Daphne's mouth with his hand. "Don't say a word." He motioned to Clara with his head to approach him and replace her hand with his. "Just be silent for a moment and I promise to explain everything later." Daphne nodded her head and The Doctor looked at Clara. "That was not meant as a pun." The Doctor walked towards the Tardis console, and River, meeting her in the middle.

River was livid. "You think you can do anything, don't you?" River spied the dash with dismay, she even tried to move a few knobs, but nothing worked to stop the Tardis. "Have you _literally_  gone mad?"

"River…" The Doctor put his hands up, but she kept on talking.

"But of course you have - of course you are. Mad man and  _your_  box. No matter  _her_ feelings. Do you want to burn us all up, just to see Amy and Rory again? Burn New York. You think I don't want to see them again - you know you can't. What could have made you  _fathom_ you could do… oh wait, you clever boy..." She looked at another screen. "A DNA match." She looked at him. "Brilliant! You're using a DNA match to go back to see… to see…" She was so touched her eyes glittered for a moment. "Mom and Dad." She looked at him evilly. "Did you steal a piece of my hair when I wasn't looking? Well, it gets on everything, it's really not that hard," she smirked; but quickly changed her tune. "This is still too, too risky, just for a visit; I thought you had resigned to that. What has gotten in to you? Be  _sensible_."

"River. Can I speak?" The Doctor interrupted.

"Clara!? What _are_  you doing?" River walked past the Doctor toward Clara.

"You know me?" Clara asked, considering she was sure they hadn't meant while River was still alive.

"Oh, opps, miss-read that one, sorry. Life of a time traveler. I guess you're the one to tell me. You knew my name, I figured we'd met already. I'll have to be more careful next time we meet. We've met in my past, but perhaps that's your future. A little spoiler for you, dear."

River bent her torso over in front of Daphne's face with a smile. "And who are you?"

Clara, off the nod of The Doctor's head, removed her hand from Daphne's mouth reluctantly – fearful of what would happen next.

River's face fell and she stumbled backwards, almost tripping after a step or two, but the Doctor was there to stop her with two firm hands on her forearms.

"River. Deep breath," he instructed to her calmly.

"But... how... how did you? No." She turned and looked at The Doctor in distress. "How did you?"

"Spoilers."

"You know." She took a gulp. "How? Who told you?"

"I can't tell you that. And yes."

Daphne spoke up like the smart little girl she was. "What's going on?"

River turned to Daphne and spoke to her in a fast nurturing matter. "Nothing, Sweetie, nothing at all. Everything's fine." She turned to the Doctor still shaken. "So, you found it. The map I mean?"

"No."

"No?"

"We have half of it."

"Half of it? That map was meant to protect her. Her and her Mother. What do you mean you only have half of it?!"

"Well, somewhere between it belonging to her mother and  _her_ , part of the map disappeared."

"That can't be. I made sure it was sonic locked.  _You're_ sonic locked."

"Well, someone got a way in!" He wasn't happy about that fact.

"You're just full of answers aren't you!?" River barked back.

Just then the Tardis seemed to take a large dip. The Doctor and River manned their battle stations, so to speak, at the Tardis console.

Clara took Daphne's hand and made sure they both were holding onto a handrail for safety.

"A DNA lock, very clever, very clever," River almost scolded.

"There wasn't a guarantee it would work."

"Oh, you knew, you always know..." she complained.

The Doctor knew this had to be an older River, as this was the kind of action the younger River loved him for.

"I got the idea from you, you know!"

"I had a vortex manipulator; you have a Tardis - that's like using a canon to go through a mouse hole." The Doctor and River switched places and then the Tardis seemed to stop. "I don't see a lock, though. Perhaps, it didn't work."

"What's that blip?" Clara questioned towards one of monitors. She pointed and looked at it sideways.

The Doctor took two long steps of his lanky body to see what Clara was looking at.

"Oh, of course!" The Doctor exclaimed.

River, with an inquisitive look on her face, walked over to the monitor to take a look herself. "Well, look at that?" River took in the red blip with amazement.

"I know…" The Doctor nodded with an impressed look on his face.

"I  _don't._  What is it?" Clara was feeling very left out of everything. Her eyes opened and she waited to be let in on the joke.

"Do you…?" River nodded her head towards The Doctor..

"Oh, you know you'd rather tell her." The Doctor grinned.

"No, go ahead. Go first for once."

River gave The Doctor a sassy look and he smirked back at her, but Clara had had enough.

"Will someone tell me already?!"

"It's me." River smiled.

"What do you mean  _you_ , you're right here? "

"Well, not me,  _me_." River smiled.

"Well, no one, even you will never  _be_  you." He bopped her on the nose and looked at Clara. "Yes, her first incarnation - I'd say about, what?" He turned to River.

"1969… I'd say about eight years old," River said matter-of-factly.

"That's you?" Clara asked and squinted with her eyes a bit at the red blinking dot.

"Eating out of rubbish cans. I bet I'm due to regenerate in a few months." She looked at her wristwatch and then she and The Doctor engaged themselves with the Tardis console as if nothing of importance had just happened.

"The DNA scan - it keyed into all parts of the DNA strain, makes sense." The Doctor informed everyone.

River nodded her head. "I don't see another blip; I think Daphne's DNA must have locked into mine and not her Mother's."

Clara seemed shocked. "And you're just going to leave her there? Her. You."

"We have to," River said in a very straight forward way.

"Why?" Clara was lost.

"Because that's what happens," River said very practically.

"But River…" Clara went right up to you. "You could grow up with your parents, really grow up with them."

"I may have had a bad childhood, but I wouldn't trade one line of my life." She looked up at The Doctor. "Not one line."

The Doctor took a break and smiled at River, but seemed to shorten his body when she wasn't looking - Clara noticed and her heart hurt for her friend.

River's attention was now on one of the view screens and a few instruments on the console. "I still don't see a second blip; we may be here too early?" She looked at the Doctor. "I was going to take this secret to my grave – I don't know how you found this out and whoever told you, I'll wring their neck."

"Spoilers." The Doctor answered softly and with wide eyes.

River stopped what she was doing and gave the Doctor an evil look. He gave her a childish look back, almost as if he was about to stick his tongue out at her, but he didn't.

"Who's to say someone told me? Maybe I found out on my own," he responded churlishly.

"Spoilers. And this was something I knew you could  _never_  figure out on your own."

The Doctor gave River a terribly offended look.

"What happened to the distress scanner protocol I installed?" River asked.

"The ripped map  _ **f**_ ooled it into thinking the map was  _ **f**_ olded."

"Of course. How could I have not thought of that," she scolded herself, but seemed to resign herself of what was now in the past. "Right now." She stepped away the console. "...what's done is done. Nothing can be done about it now."

"River?" He asked with a deep concern. "The map. Is it true?  _Is_  it Galifrey?"

River got the biggest grin of sheer delight on her face. "Of course it is, you idiot."

"Ohhh! Rivvver!" His grin was the largest River and Clara had ever seen it and he shot his arms out at her with complete joy and exhilaration. "Oh, you,  _you_!" He ran to River and lifted her up off the ground and let her down three paces from where he had lifted her. He spun around in a state of happiness, euphoria, and sheer bliss. "I married right!? Didn't I!? Huh? Huh?"

The Doctor now noticed that River had turned her attention to Daphne with a motherly look on her face. This made the Doctor's demeanor turn far more serious as he watched his wife just stare at their granddaughter in a mix of pride and melancholy. A smile now crept to her face.

"Who are you?" The little girl asked, a little scared, a little nervous.

River took a breath. "Well, it would appear... " Tears came to her eyes and they had an impish look. "I'm your grandmother."

**END OF PART ONE**

 


	6. Chapter 6

_“Trouble is, it’s all back to front. My past is his future._

_We’re traveling in opposite directions.”_ ~ River Song

 

~

**BEGINNING OF PART TWO**

 

**CHAPTER 6**

 

**NEW YORK CITY, 1969**

 

River and The Doctor exited the Tardis first; they needed to check things out – River with her gun drawn and The Doctor with his sonic.  It looked like they were deep in Central Park New York on a crisp fall night.

 

“Well, you didn’t blow New York off the face of the planet…” River put her gun away.

 

“Yes, well, not bad for a family outing.” He seemed proud of the fact that they had arrived in one piece. “Told you I could do it,” The Doctor threw in her face how right he had been.

 

River leaned in and shook her head at him. “Not without my idea, you didn’t.”

 

The Doctor gave River a terrible look and knocked on the Tardis door. “You can both come out now,” he shouted.

 

River noticed the burn marks on the bottom of the Tardis. “Looks like she could do with another repaint.”

 

While River was distracted the Doctor licked his thumb.

 

Clara then exited the Tradis holding Daphne’s hand. The Doctor lightly took hold of Daphne’s free wrist, as she passed him, lightly rubbed the hash marks off her skin with his thumb in one stealthy motion. Daphne smiled at the Doctor and he smiled back – to the little girl it appeared to be nothing but a lovely gesture.

 

River looked up from her handlink computer and took the top of the Tardis into her view. “You change the bulb on top, yet?” 

 

“I've been busy.” He responded to River, as if not really hearing her, he was too gleeful for their safe arrival. “Oh, 1969, it's like we were just here.” He smiled and clasped his hands together. 

 

“Been ages for me.” River gestured with her head. She then looked back at her hand link to check some readings

 

The Doctor looked down at his sleeve and noticed his own hash tags were sticking out from the cuff.  He quickly licked his wrist and turned away from River. Clara noticed this and eyed The Doctor oddly. 

 

River looked up at the Doctor. “What are you doing?” She felt something was wrong.

 

“Nothing, Dear.” He gestured with both his hands and his skin was free of hash marks.  He looked relieved.

 

“Is this really 1969?” Daphne asked with excitement.

 

“Clara, Daphne you will _love_ 1969\. The end of one age and the beginning of another.  So many brilliant and amazing things. The Beatles... Ohhh, in about a month _Across The Universe_ will be released. A personal favourite for _obvious_ reasons. Woodstock. Miniskirts.” he looked at Daphne. “Not until you’re older...no, I take that back, not even then.”

 

Daphne giggled and looked at The Doctor in awe. “Do I really get to meet Great Grandma Amy and Great Grandpa Rory?”

 

“Yes, but….” The Doctor looked at River who gave him a look back.  

 

Clara saw their exchange and looked perplexed by it.

 

River looked her granddaughter in the eye. “Daphne, you can never tell them who you are.”

 

Daphne got agitated. “But… no, no… I’ve read her books all my life, heard all the stories. This is the day I’ve dreamed about.  I want to tell her - I want to talk to her about all the adventures... and her stories.”

 

The Doctor leaned down. “Daphne. I know how important that is to you and I wish that could happen, but we are already on bad ground. You see, no one should know too much about their own future. And explaining to Rory and Amy who you are… would bring up too many… timey wimey... issues.  Things they can’t change that would only hurt them.” He got firm all of a sudden, “I’m sorry... but we can’t.” He stood up and pulled down his waist coat.

 

“Who is she, then?” Clara asked, upset for Daphne by proxy.

 

“A friend,” he said sternly. “One of your students.  I’m sorry.”  He gave River a look and then peered back at the girls again.

 

Clara didn’t seem too happy with The Doctor. The Doctor coughed and looked at River.

 

River was back to business with her eyes on her hand link. “It should be safe for us to continue now, I don't detect any dangers.” River put her hand link back into one of the pouches on her belt and replaced it with her gun.

 

“Brilliant.” He looked at Daphne and Clara again. “River and I will forge ahead. You two follow behind.”

 

River walked in front with her gun out, followed by The Doctor and his sonic, while Clara and Daphne did what they were told and walked behind the Doctor.

 

Clara stared at The Doctor crossly. “So, how do you explain the map then, in your whole _timey-whimy_ thing-a-gig?”

 

“What do you mean?” The Doctor asked and leaned his head back to hear Clara.

 

“If you find the baby.  Daphne's mother. And take the map; there will be no half-of-a-map to begin with to bring us back here in the first place. ”

 

“Easy. We transfer the map’s image directly to the Tardis and then rip the map in half and put it back in the locket for you and me to find in 2013.”

 

“Nice thinking, Sweetie,” River hollered back.

 

“Thank you, Dear.” He fixed his tie with his free hand.

 

Clara gave him a look. “So, that would mean _we_ are the reason the map went missing and _we_ had it all along, but had to _give_ ourselves a reason to come back here and get it.  Like some big, giant, time travel circle.”

 

“I never said time travel was simple.”

 

River turned and looked at the Doctor. “But a hell of a lot of fun.”

 

Daphne smiled at River and she smiled back at the little girl. Clara took Daphne's hand and squeezed it for support in the darkness.

 

Suddenly, The Doctor noticed something on his sonic. “Oh! I have an incoming message?” he said with surprise and childlike elation. “I’ll have the Tardis relay it through the sonic.” The Doctor stopped walking which caused the entire party to do the same.

 

“Doctor, Doctor, do you read me?”  A male American voice came through the sonic.

 

“Is, that Jack?” River got a devilish look on her face and ambled up to the Doctor. “Haven't seen him since the Bone Meadows.”

 

“You know Jack?” The Doctor asked, sounding a little jealous.

 

“River, is that you?” Jack inquired in a state of joy.

 

“Ohhh, don’t start,” The Doctor demanded.

 

“Helloooo, Sweetie,” River cooed.

 

“Hey, hey. I thought I was Sweetie,” The Doctor said in an offended tone.

 

“All I said was hello!” Jack defended himself.

 

“All he said was hello,” River mockingly echoed Jack’s words.

 

“Mate, seriously? Really?” The Doctor got a difficult look on his face.

 

“Who’s that?” Clara asked. She lifted her head toward the sonic.

 

“Well, hellooo, Captain Jack Harkness.” Jack could even flirt with no visuals.

 

“Stop it!” The Doctor shouted.

 

“I really don’t mind,” Clara said sheepishly, after all even Jack's voice was sexy.  She grinned.

 

River grinned. “She doesn’t mind,” she concurred.

 

Jack went on with his reason for the call. “Checking in, Doctor, we’re one lass short up here in the boonies, any chance you got yourself a tag alone?

 

“Roger, yes, I mean Jack, Roger, yes. Didn’t think I could get a signal through where we are. Tell Anthony she’s safe and sound.”

 

“I will.” One could tell Jack was smiling. “I relayed energy from my vortex manipulator into my communication link just to get a signal to you – drains the battery, but does the trick. Goin' quiet to save power in case we need to reach you later. The Williams family is safe. Over and out.” And Jack was gone.

 

“We should continue east to get out of the park.” River nodded at the Doctor and started to lead. The Doctor began to walk behind River when he heard a low raspy voice behind him.

 

“Oi,” Clara said softly to get The Doctor’s attention. He turned around and could tell by Clara’s face that she wanted to speak with him in private. He fell back in stride with Clara and Daphne as River continued the lead several paces ahead of them.

 

“I’m a little lost?” Clara whispered. “How come River is here… when…”

 

The Doctor stopped her with the look on his face and then gave the same look in Daphne's direction.

 

Clara got it and put her hands on Clara’s ears. She lifted her hands off for a moment when Daphne yelped in protest.

 

“Just for a jif this time, Daph, I promise.” Clara put her hands back over Daphne’s ears again.

 

The Doctor and Clara whispered so River couldn't hear them.

 

“The River you met was a data ghost from the library - this is the real River, before…”

 

“Who knows me?”

 

“It would appear so…”

 

“How? The last time or…. first time I met her she was – the only other times I’ve ever met her she’s been... well.... _dead_. And she made no indication she knew me then.”

 

“Spoilers. She had to wait to be introduced or wait for your signal. Body language. A look in the eye. She had... _has_ to be careful of spoilers. Always.”

 

“So, this means we’re going to meet again….”

 

“ ...for the first time.”

 

Clara digested that bit of information for a moment and then took her hands off Daphne’s ears. “Are you alright with this?” Clara asked with concern, still in a hushed tone.

 

“Why shouldn’t I be?” he said more than asked.

 

“You know, 'cause…” Clara insinuated with her head towards River. “Being back.” She paused. “In your life.” She looked to be sure River wasn’t listening. “After saying good-bye. _Closure_ and all that...” she insinuated further with a gesture of her head and the raise of her eyebrows.

 

“I’ll be fine.”

 

But Clara didn't appear to believe him.  There was a pause between them.

 

“Eh, did I just see you lick your wrist, earlier?”

 

“Eh, yeah.” The Doctor said with an uneasy look.

 

“And for what reason… may I ask?” She gave him an odd look, as if waiting for an odd answer.

 

“Getting rid of the evidence. I don’t want River or The Ponds to know we ran into The Silence.”

 

“The what?”

 

“Exactly.”

 

River stopped and yelled back. “Are you going to lollygag behind or help upfront?!”

 

“Nag, nag,” The Doctor appeared irritated with her, but it seemed to stem from his own sadness in seeing her again or perhaps from the fear River had overheard the two talking about her. “We happen to be having a private conversation back here.”

 

“Oh, please.” She shined. “You love it when I do that.”

 

“It’s a Human city _park_ , River, it’s not like we’re in the Serengeti  or Padrivole Regency 9.”

 

The Doctor noticed Daphne was eyeing them oddly. “Daphne, this is just …..how…. Granddad and Grandmum have fun.” He tried to be lighthearted.

 

“Oh...” River laughed and corrected him. “That’s not _really_ how we have fun.” She smirked.

 

Clara leaned in and whispered to River and The Doctor. “There are children… a child around… present I mean.”

 

“That won’t stop her...” The Doctor made his way past River and started to forge ahead of everyone. “She’s said far worse in front of her own parents!”  he shouted back and then disappeared into a mass of trees.

 

River gave Clara a “you’ve got me there look” and shrugged her shoulders. “In all fairness, they didn’t know they were my parents at the time.” River then followed the Doctor into the darkness.

 

Clara didn't know what to make of what she had been told, so she just took Daphne's hand and caught up with River and the Doctor with a shake of her head and a disapproving stare.

**~**

 

The Doctor threw out both his arms as they reached a small brownstone on a cobblestone street. It was the wee hours of the morning, 2:15 am to be exact, dark and foggy, as if they had just missed a fine rain. It was familiar soundings for sure.

 

“Aww…” The Doctor gestured with his outstretched arms. “Exotic Brooklyn!”

 

Clara looked exhausted. “I don’t understand why you had us walk and take the underground --”

 

“They call it the subway here,” The Doctor corrected her and gestured wildly.  “Good rule of thumb, always try to use the vernacular or your surroundings, helps you _blend_ in.”

 

River gave the Doctor a look, as she knew it was very difficult for him to blend in anywhere.

 

Clara wasn't having it either.  “Fine, The _subway_ … when we could have just as easily _popped_ in with the Tardis.”

 

“She’s safe in the park - hidden from view - just a precaution.  Hard to hide the Tardis in a city like New York. And we don't know what else we might encounter here. Best to keep it hidden. Besides, I can always call her back by remote if we’re in a jam.” He took a breath, spun around, and faced Daphne and Clara. “ _Plus_ … we got a little of a family outing, didn’t we?” He leaned over, looked Daphne in the eye and bopped her nose. “Didn’t we, Daphne?”

 

“I saw a man pee in the street,” Daphne spoke like she was speaking of the Empire State Building.

 

“Yes, well…  eh...“The Doctor stood up with a disturbed look on his face. “I might spare that little detail to Anthony when we bring you home.” He looked over at River, who was standing in the middle of street, not moving forward. “Is this the house?” he asked her, stepping up to her.

 

“Yes.” River didn’t look at him. “It looks just like in the pictures. I never saw it from the outside.” She looked down at her hands. “Look at me, I’m shaking.” She turned to see The Doctor and her eyes were wet. “I’m as nervous as a schoolgirl.” She was shocked by her own behavior.

 

“River,” he took her hand. “How long has it been since you’ve seen your parents?”

 

“Oh, I don’t know… “ She paused. “About thirty years or so.”

 

The Doctor tried not to get emotional for her, but it did lead him to wonder something else. “River…how long has it been since we... last saw each other?”

 

“Oh, yes, we need to do diaries!”

 

“We can do that later….” he assured her, meaning that wasn’t what he meant.

 

River looked back at the house. “They leave letters for me in a gap space in the cellar and I try to send them letters from the past when I can, but…”

 

“It’s not the same…”  He squeezed her hand and she looked back at him. “You should go in first. Have your moment with your parents, River. Besides, the two of us might be too much of a shock - you might want to brace them.” River nodded her head and put her gun in her holster.

 

“Hang on...” Clara spoke up confused. "The article I read said they lived in a flat on the Upper West Side of New York in 1969. Are you sure we have the right place?”

 

River turned and answered Clara. “She used that flat as an office. Stayed over sometimes. The interviewer assumed. Best to keep it that way. They had to live completely private lives -  have to - free from questions.” The Doctor nodded his head at River to encourage her, and she nodded back. “Right, then.” River then looked at the brownstone, took a breath and walked towards it.

 

The Doctor made his way back to Clara and Daphne in the shadows, as River descended the stairs of the stoop and knocked on the door.

 

“Are we going in?” Daphne asked.

 

“Yes, soon. Your grandmother... River... now remember to call her River in there - is going to ease the shock. We’ll wait for her signal.”

 

“It looks just like in the pictures…” Daphne gazed at the William’s home in awe. “Only in HD color…”

 

Daphne walked forward and the Doctor gently stopped her. He knelt down to her level. “Now, remember Daphne, it really is best if you don’t tell Amy and Rory who you are. There would be too much explaining to do, like where your mother is….and I don’t want to -- I mean to say…”'

 

“No, I understand,” she said softly and lowered her head.

 

The Doctor took hold of Daphne's locket and rubbed his finger over it with love. “And remember to hide this from view. “  The Doctor tucked the locket under her sweater to conceal it and then gave her a big smile. Daphne smiled back and he bobbed her nose with his finger again, but then felt that wasn’t enough. He leaned in and kissed the top of her head, leaving it there for a while longer than expected and then lifted up.  “You’re a good girl.”

 

Clara knelt down. “But that doesn't mean you won’t be able to talk to them and get to know them.”

 

Daphne nodded her head. Clara and The Doctor smiled at each other. It was then that the Doctor noticed a small paperback book tucked in her pocket. “You bought a book?” he asked her with delight, but he could tell it was a new one. “May I?”

 

Daphne nodded her head and The Doctor took the book from her pocket and eyed the cover. “Ohh, the Druids!” He gripped the book. “Brilliant selection.   _Brilliant_ people, the Druids. Great planners.   _Zero_ conversation skills.”  Daphne giggled at his joy. “Oddly enough...loved the stars, the cosmos  – the Powers of Deities. Knowing the future. You’d think that would give us something to chat about. Far too keen on human sacrifice for my taste, or in my case _Time Lord_ sacrifice.”

 

Daphne smiled.  “They thought it could tell the future.” She had no one to share such things with.

 

To Clara that was new information. “By Human sacrifice?” She nodded at the Doctor, “Remind us never to go there.”

 

The Doctor nodded his head. “Yeah, well, the irony wasn't lost on me....”

 

Then, in the darkness and the quiet of the night, they heard the sound of a loud door opening and a Scottish voice broke through the fog with the all too familiar words of, “Raggedy man!!”

 

The Doctor leapt to his feet and turned to face the sound behind him. There, at the top of the brownstone stairs, he saw a figure of a woman holding her hands on the edges of two big front doors. He then saw the sight of the same figure running down the stairs toward them.

 

“Amelia Pond!!!’ The Doctor shouted so loudly it was shocking he didn’t wake the entire neighborhood.

 

With the biggest smile on his face The Doctor ran in Amy's direction until they each met in the middle of the street where The Doctor lifted Amy up into the biggest hug they could both muster.

 

“You smell the same…” he whispered as he buried his head into her shoulder for a moment and tried not to cry.

 

River, and the figure of a man, who appeared to be Rory, stood at the top of the stairs watching the reunion.

 

“Is it really you?” Amy finally spoke, pulling herself apart from him and giving the Doctor a full view of her face for the first time.  Amy, dressed in her bathrobe/dressing gown, was just as he had imagined she would look -- a gorgeous woman in her 6o’s, still ginger headed, but lighter now, with a few notable gray streaks at her temples, all pulled up into a loose bun like she was Katharine Hepburn. Her eyes still twinkled through her huge grin; making her look the same to The Doctor as the last time he set eyes on her.  Tears crept into the edges of her eyes that now had lovely, more visual, wrinkles, which crept outward towards her ears. She actually looked more in her 50’s to The Doctor, than her 60’s, but either way she was a sight for sore eyes. She looked nothing like the older version of herself The Doctor had once met. Yes, this Amy had lived a happy life and it showed on every inch of her skin.

 

“Look.  At.  You,” he spoke with delight, taking her face in both his hands.

 

“I’m old,” she retorted.

 

“No.” He smiled large. “You look amazing.”

**~**

The group had gathered in Amy and Rory’s lounge - a room lined with nothing but books and brown wood. It was a very reminiscent of Anthony's vacation home in Scotland. Amy placed a plate of cookies and milk in front of Daphne.

 

“My son, Anthony, loved these when he was your age,” she grinned and tightened the belt on her terry cloth robe.

 

“Rory! Look at you.” The Doctor kept hugging and looking at Rory with delight. “You look so…. “

 

“....distinguished,” Rory said jokingly, with his hand on his beard, he knew he looked much older.

 

“No, old, but keep telling yourself that,” The Doctor said in a way Rory could only laugh at. This was no longer a young insecure boy, but a confident man, or perhaps he just found the Doctor’s antics so wonderful to see and hear after so many years –a nostalgic sight for sore eyes.

 

Rory still had a slight look of that awkward youth he had been, but his maturity seeped through his pores in a way The Doctor couldn't ignore.  He wore glasses now and his hair was a mix of a little grey and faded ginger, in his beard and on his head. He had far more wrinkles than his wife, but still looked young for his age. He had changed from his night clothes into a brown sweater jacket with patches that made him look like a grand Englishman out of a story-book.

 

Amy handed River and Clara each a glass of wine.

 

“Isn’t it a bit early for that?’ The Doctor asked.

 

Clara, Amy and River all gave a collective, “No.”

 

The Doctor and Rory shrugged at each other.

 

Amy spoke up. “Look at _you_ , brand new outfit,” she said as if she liked his new style, making the Doctor show a cocky grin. “Miss the braces, through.” She smiled at him. “I’m still lost, Doctor, how you’re even able to be here?” Amy sat down in an over-sized chair that River was standing behind.

 

“DNA lock,” The Doctor answered.

 

River continued, “Same way I was able to come here ages ago and… well… ”

 

“Have the baby…” Rory answered and put his hands in his pockets.

 

The Doctor coughed and turned away from Rory.  River and Amy noticed.

 

“Yes,” River answered. “Susan,” she broke the silence. “Her name’s Susan.”  River looked a little miffed no one had yet called her daughter by her first name.

 

“You didn’t bring her? I want to meet my granddaughter,” Amy demanded and questioned.

 

The Doctor spoke up quickly. “Can’t be helped, Amy - same reason River couldn’t be at Demon’s Run until the end. Besides, you’ll meet her _very, very_ soon.”

 

“If you could have done a DNA lock why haven’t you come sooner?” Amy asked.

 

River angled her head towards Amy in the chair. “You need a direct link to bring something as big as the Tardis through, Mother. And even then it’s a long shot. When I did it, I didn’t even know if it would work - and each time we still could burn a little of New York or lead to burning it completely.  But I could be very foolish when I was young.” She looked at the Doctor. “You all know that.”

 

“Why are you looking at me when you say that?” The Doctor felt insulted.

 

River gave him a sassy, “Why do you think look,” and straightened her torso up, now holding her Mother’s hand.

 

“You said, we’d meet your daughter our…. _granddaughter_ …” Rory was still reeling from all of this. “Soon…”

 

The Doctor looked at River for the answer to Rory’s question.

 

“Sometime tomorrow night, from what I remember.”

 

Rory nodded his head, but one could feel he was holding in all his paternal thoughts on the subject.

 

“But then she stays with us - we get to bring her up?” Amy asked, a little stilted. “To protect her?”

 

“Yes,” The Doctor answered softly.

 

Clara raised the pen in her hand at everyone. “Don’t worry, I’m taking notes, if anyone is having trouble following.” She then wrote something down in her notebook. “I know I am… “ she said to herself.

 

Amy was still concerned. “Then, why are you really here? Is she in danger? You took a big risk to come here. It had to be important.”

 

The Doctor didn’t answer.

 

Rory walked over to Amy and sat down in a chair next to his wife and held her free hand.  “Is our granddaughter in danger, Doctor?”

 

“No.” He smiled. “She grows up unharmed.” He continued to smile, telling them the half-truth.

 

“You just need the locket?” Rory asked as a confirmation.

 

The Doctor corrected Rory. “Not the locket, just the map inside, before someone else gets it. And since we don’t know when that happens, this was the best point in the time line to intercept that.”

 

Amy gripped her daughter's hand tighter. “But they don’t harm her; they just take half of this map?” Amy wanted to be sure. “That you need.”

 

“Yes,” The Doctor confirmed.  “It leads to the exact location of entry to a pocket universe where I hid it.”

 

Amy was lost. “You hid an entire planet and you don't know where?”

 

“It's very complicated, Amy. Pocket universes can be difficult to find.  It's not like I lost my keys.”

 

“He's done that before,” Amy retorted in a mocking tone to the group.

 

“Have not!” he defended himself.

 

“Why not just go back and get the map from River, herself?  Rory asked. “Before it gets nicked? Why gamble with burning New York and coming back here?”

 

“It’s not that simple,” River interjected. She walked around the chair, towards The Doctor, and the front of the room to face her parents. “Any change in what has already happened could alter the timeline. _I_ need to believe I left that map in that locket.” She put her class if wine down on an end table.

 

The Doctor finished for River. “Or anyone else looking for the map. This isn’t just about finding Gallifrey. There is more at stake than that.  Amy, you're right. This map is dangerous not just because of what it leads to, but because of who could be looking for it. We need to find it before it falls into the wrong hands. The whole universe itself could be in the balance. It’s that important.”

 

Rory took a breath in. “And here I thought today was going to be just a normal day.” Amy patted Rory’s hand.

 

“I put it there to protect her, “River explained her actions to her parents. “To protect the map, I sonic locked it so only The Doctor could find it, one day - maybe after I was gone - one day when they were both meant to be found.  When it was safe for a Time Lord to roam the universe again. But someone somehow was able to get to it. I don’t know how.” River seemed unable to forgive herself.

 

Amy, her eyes a bit wet, stood and marched up to River, acting with a  mother’s instinct and gave her daughter a hug - River hugged back.

 

“Well...” Amy resolved herself and turned towards the Doctor. “We are here to help. Of course.” She took River’s hand and then The Doctor’s with her other hand and looked him in eyes. “And it is just so brilliant… to see you both.... here. Again.” She grabbed both River and the Doctor in a big hug taking both River and The Doctor off guard at first.

 

This caused Rory to feel he had to join in himself. Clara stood around looking awkward, unsure how to fit in - like a spouse at a high school reunion.

 

The four broke their hug to find Daphne raising her hand.

 

Amy laughed. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to raise your hand to ask a proper question, you’re not in school.” She smiled at Daphne and then at Clara.

 

The Doctor grinned. “Daphne is a bit shy, but I think what she wants to ask is... well... she’s a big fan of your _books_.” The Doctor clasped his hands together.

 

Amy smiled. “Oh, well then, come on…” She put out her hand. “I’ll take you to my study and show you where I write.  And I think I can find some more milk and cookies –oww, been in America too long - _biscuits_ , somewhere... Maybe even a pop-tart or a Twinkie.“

 

Rory laughed, “She's just keen they finally invented Pop-tarts.”

 

Amy smiled. “Like you weren't waiting too.” She poked Rory affectionately.

 

Daphne was agog. “I’ve never been allowed to have sweets so late at night.”

 

Amy leaned in. “Well, you’ve never been to The William’s house then, have you?”

 

Daphne smiled back and Amy looked at the group. “Food for everyone too, eh?  I think it’s time for breakfast. Somewhere.” Amy motioned for everyone to follow her into the kitchen.

 

“River. A word.” The Doctor nodded his head at his wife with a direct seriousness. “Can I see you in the next room for a moment?

 

River nodded her head and they walked into what looked like the William'sliving room and closed the door.

 

River turned to see The Doctor leaning up against the closed double doors. “Ohhhh.... I can tell by that look on your face. You haven’t seen me in a while…” She swayed her finger at him.

 

“How long has it been since you’ve seen me last?” The Doctor asked and took a step away from the door towards her.

 

“Ages. You?” she said seductively, changing the Doctor’s demeanor to that of a man on fire.

 

“Eons,” he spoke with a lustful intent. And the next thing he knew he had River’s face in his hands and they were kissing breathlessly, in a move that even shocked The Doctor himself.

 

The Doctor lifted up, his hands on the side of her face, but River saw a look in his eyes that stopped her for a moment. She looked at him perplexed.

 

“Hello, Sweetie.”

 

“Hello, Wife,” he said softly.

 

“Ohhh, I also know _that_ look… you're about to break your rule,” she seemed to scold him. River then broke away from her husband and walked to the other side of the room, making him counter her, almost flipping their positions.

 

“What rule?

 

“Oh, _you_ know the rule...Not when we’re on a mission and _especially_ not with my parents around. It’s a very old rule.”

 

“I made that up?”

 

“Oh, yes, you did, Sweetie, since before I can remember.   _Bad_ , Doctor.”

 

“You flirt with me all the time!”

 

“I’m _not_ talking about _flirting_ , Sweetie. Your rules; no distractions.” She leaned against the door again and smirked at him.

 

“Oh…” He sauntered over to her, looking very arrogant and sure. “And what does distract me from my work, _Ms._ Song?”

 

She laughed and shook her head. “I didn’t make the rule up, you did.” She bopped him on the nose. “Now, I’m going to have some breakfast. I suggest you join me. Just be thin on the bangers and pancakes, won’t you.” She poked him in the belly, opened the door and then exited in the direction of the dining room.

  
The Doctor watched River walk off with a sorrowful look on his face. A look and moment The Doctor wasn't aware Amy was observing from the Kitchen the entire time. The second door to the kitchen had a direct view under the foyer stairs into the den.  There was something about watching the Doctor in this private moment that made Amy uneasy.  She threw the feeling off and continued mixing the contents of her mixing bowl by hand. Rory came up behind her with some ingredients to help and she kissed him in thanks. Amy then took her gaze off the Doctor as he walked away and down the hall – changing his demeanor back to his usual self.  


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

 

The Doctor sat on the top step of the William's brownstone hunched over River's hand-link scrutinizing figures with a discontented look on his face. The door was open and therefore Clara noticed the Doctor sitting on the stoop while walking through the foyer.

 

She walked out onto the landing and approached him slowly, trying to gauge his mood. Clara then sat herself down on the step next to the Doctor and he appeared not to even notice her.  She waited a moment and then playfully shoved him with her body and shoulder. That took The Doctor away from the screen and he gave her a small smile.

 

“You okay?” Clara asked. “You _fine_?”

 

“Yes. Yeah.” The Doctor told her. “Just running some calculations.” He gestured with the hand link and then looked back at the screen again.

 

Clara took a moment before speaking. “I've been waiting to ask you something...” Clara looked at him. “Wasn't sure if I should. I couldn't ask in front of everyone. Don't want to over step.”

 

“You can ask me anything, Clara.” He smiled at her. “I just can't _promise_ you’ll get the answer you’re looking for.”

 

“Yeah, that's just it...” She took hold of a word from the Doctor's last sentence. “Curious -   back before, in the Tardis, after the library, before I knew who _Melody_ was, you said she was your biggest “broken promise.” What did you mean by that?”

 

The Doctor got a somber look on his face, yet grinned a little through it. “Well...” He looked at Clara. “A long, long, time ago. When River was first taken. Little Melody. I made a promise to Amy and Rory I would bring her home.” He paused.

 

Clara was lost. “But you did.”

 

“You read her diary. Not for years after. She was all grown up by then.” He paused for a moment and looked out. “I failed.” The guilt dripped like buckets off his face.  

 

“But you did your best. In the end you protected her.”

  
“…Not well enough.”

 

Clara’s heart was breaking for her friend.

 

“I promised on my life, Clara.” He looked at her out the corner of his eye. “I don’t say that lightly.”

 

They heard the noise of the scampering feet of the young pre-teen persuasion.

 

“The food is ready!” Daphne called to them with glee.

 

The Doctor got an equally gleeful look on his face and turned around in an almost half jump. Daphne giggled and the Doctor took her by her waist and tossed her over his shoulder. “Who wants to fly!?” he said with the joy of a grandfather with his granddaughter. Daphne laughed and they zoomed away, complete with the Doctor making flying noises as he glided down the hallway.

 

Clara smiled, but with a concern for The Doctor, and then followed The Doctor and Daphne towards breakfast, shutting the door behind her.

 

Across the street, in a house similar to Amy and Rory's, a lone light shined in a ground floor window with light blue curtains. One of the curtains was pulled to one side, as if someone had been looking out and then fell forward, covering the entire window again. Perhaps they had woken someone after all.

 

~

 

Later, Amy, dressed in day clothes now, her hair half down, leaned against the counter in her kitchen, reading what looked like the manuscript Brian had given Clara.  Amy's glasses were pressed on the edge of her nose, while Clara and Rory swapped travel stories and Daphne listened in awe. The remains of breakfast and a glass milk bottle were on the table in front of them. Dirty dishes still sat half-empty on the dining room table in the other room.

 

“Clara?“ Daphne asked “Do you think we’ll have time to sightsee?  I’ve always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. I left New York City when I was five –I've never been.”

 

“Eh…” Rory got a bad look on his face. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” Rory picked up Clara and Daphne’s plates and brought them to the sink. Amy took her hand and rubbed Rory’s back to console him.

 

The Doctor sat in the den reviewing the same calculations on River's hand-link from before. He didn’t seem happy with what he was finding. The Doctor stood up and walked through the kitchen looking lost.

 

Clara chuckled loudly at something Rory had just said while Rory made his way back to the table and his adoring audience.

 

“Where’s River?” The Doctor questioned quickly. “Has anyone seen, River?”

 

“Haven’t seen her since we finished eating, actually…” Clara stated.  “Is something wrong?”

 

“She’s in there -” Amy pointed, not looking up, engrossed by the manuscript. She leaned back again against the kitchen countertop causing her reading glasses to fall further down the bridge of her nose.

 

The Doctor looked towards where Amy was pointing.

 

Rory leaned in to Clara, and she could tell he was about ask her a private question, one he was almost afraid to ask. “I suppose… you wouldn’t by chance…. know what’s happened on Breaking Bad, would you?”

 

Clara tried not to laugh.

  **~**

The Doctor walked out of the kitchen's second door and into a hallway, straight for the door Amy had pointed to next to the den and opened it.

 

“River…” The Doctor walked in to find the door did not lead to a regular room, but to a small washroom, where he found his wife deep in a bath of soapy suds.

 

The look of shock on The Doctor’s face and the awkward gestures he made with his hands and arms made River laugh, as he averted his eyes unsure where to direct them.

 

“It’s not like you haven’t seen it before?” she cooed.

 

“Have I?” he asked with surprise and anticipation.

 

River's eyes grew large and she nodded her head. “We are married. For ages now. Your rule doesn’t apply to everywhere. “ River often couldn't help herself in teasing him.

 

“Ohh! That’s the rule.” The seemed to get it now.

 

“Ohh, spoiler there for you.” She leaned her head back on a towel behind her and sighed.

 

The Doctor straightened up and walked towards River in the most suave matter he could muster. He sent his hand through his hair and away from his forehead.

 

“I like the new outfit. Purple _really_ is your colour...”

 

“Don’t change the subject. We’re here on a mission and you’re taking a bath?” he asked accusatory. “Seems against the _rules_ …” he toyed with her.

 

River gave him a terrible and sassy look. “Oh, please, all we are doing now is waiting around for the _big event_. I don’t know about you, but I’m talking a bit of a holiday - I think I deserve it.” She looked at him crossly. “Besides, the University has been on a hot water shortage for nearly a year now.”

 

The Doctor sat down next to the edge of the tub and against the wall across from River’s head. “You could take a bath on the Tardis, if you ever really wanted one.”

 

“Yes, well, but it’s just not the same. Sometimes an earth girl misses home.” She took a bit of water from the bath and tossed it towards his face, a few suds landed on The Doctor's nose and he tossed them off with a flirting look on his face.

 

“Oh, no. That look again… Remember your rule,” she teased.

 

“I wasn’t and I don’t have a _look_ and well... you're sitting in a _tub_.”

 

“ _You_ walked in _here._ ” She gestured toward the bath with her finger.

 

“Amy said you were in here - I didn’t know it was a W.C.” He looked around at the garish 1960’s décor with a sour look on his face.

 

“What happened to using the vernacular of your surroundings?” She teased him. “They call it a _bathroom_ here.”She waited for what she knew would be a typical Doctor response.

 

“Because that one’s silly. I don’t use the silly ones,” he stated with perfect seriousness.

 

River pursed her lips and tried not to laugh. “You came in here for a reason, I assume…” She tried to push him on to his point.

 

“Yes, well… I did want to talk to you… in _private_. This appears to be a good enough place as any.  I was wondering if, perhaps, there was anything else about that night you remember… or didn’t want to talk about in front of your parents. I'm getting anomalies. ”

 

“What kind of anomalies? In the Solar flares? That can be common in such a hot spot such as this.” She rattled off her suggestions as if to say, “as everyone knows.”

 

“No, that's just the thing.  I thought of that; it can't be. It would be easy to pick up. No, this has to be something else. I had the Tardis figure the calculations through your computer and all she comes up with is that something doesn't match. That something’s off. ”

 

“Time is in flux, just us being here is a new element in time.”

 

“Yes...” He nodded his head, as if thinking. “That's why I felt it was best no one leaves the perimeter of the house while we’re here.”

 

“I can't imagine our walk from the Tardis could have changed anything drastic.”

 

“Quite.” The Doctor nodded his head again deep in thought.

 

“Could be a temporal echo. Basically, bouncing back like a mirror.”

 

“My first thought, yes. There are small ion signatures. But that is always common, and not enough to show that much displacement with no cause behind it. It could be nothing.” He tried to shake it off. “I just want to be sure. We can't afford any surprises.” He continued back to his original questioning. “And there's nothing about that night you haven't mentioned?”

 

“I told you everything I can remember, it’s all in the manuscript. I don’t know who else told you everything else --” she grumbled the last part.

 

“Not important.” He gestured with his hand to move on. “My fear and concern is somebody was in the house with you, lying in wait. How long did you stay after… after the baby was born?”

 

“A few days. They didn’t want me to leave, but I had to get back. I don't even think the guards noticed I was gone. This was before I started _taunting_ them with my absence for fun.” She chuckled.

 

“The guards? River... were you pregnant… at Stormcage?”

 

“Yes,” she said with a bit of whimsy and mystery in her voice. “You assumed it was more recent?”

 

The Doctor nodded his head yes, the revelation seemed to hurt his hearts.  

 

The Doctor's concerned face caused River to draw her own conclusions to why he appeared so worried.  “Oh, don't worry. They never had a record I was pregnant. I smuggled in my first Vortex Manipulators sometime after the trial. Zapped out once I was showing. _Zapped_ back in as if I never left.  Lost that Manipulator in a surprise inspection, I'm afraid. Had to revert back to _hitching_ rides off you again. Until, I found a better hiding place.” She smirked.

 

He paused for a moment before speaking. “You must have been very young.  I just assumed...” It all seemed to be clear to The Doctor.

 

“I was,” she said with deep emotion, yet trying not to make him feel guilty – hiding the damage.

 

“So, when did you figure out the map, then?” He had always assumed it was an older wiser River who had found it.

 

“Spoilers,” she grinned.

 

“River -” he said her name with a grumble.  

 

“Ask a different question, then?” She smiled. “You invented this game.”

 

“Special circumstances and you know it... yellow flag on the play. “

 

“Alright… “  She looked at him sideways for a moment. “.... It _is_ in both our pasts now. I’ll give you that one.” She still looked skeptical.

 

The Doctor nodded his head at her in agreement.

 

“At University.” River appeared pretty impressed with herself.

 

“And you believe it was 9pm _tomorrow_ night, the 16th November, 1969?”

 

“It’s the time on her birth certificate.”  She paused. “But yes, I know.”

 

The Doctor looked at her oddly. “She has a birth certificate?”

 

“My father had it made up. He’s still in the medical field. He had his ways.”

 

The Doctor took a breath in, as if he was about to ask something difficult. “River…” He scratched under his left eye and then looked away. “I do have a more delicate, I mean to say…I was just. Can I ask… “He paused to find the words. “When… I mean .. who… When… did we...”

 

“Doctor, are you asking when we conceived our child?” She took delight in his awkwardness

 

“I was just curious the time line…” he averted his eyes from her. “For figures and… so on.”

 

“Oh, really?” She began to tease him. “So you’re not asking which one of you it was, then?’  
  
“Of course not!” He balked at the comment, but River knew him too well.

 

“Doctor, I do believe you are actually jealous of yourself.” River leaned forward and The Doctor saw a large bruise on her back.

 

“River?!” He laid his hand near the bruise, but made sure not to touch it. “What is this- what happened? Who did this to you?”

 

“Oh, that...” She tried to look at her backbone and then leaned back against the back of the tub again. “Comes with the trade. “ She saw the disturbed look on his face. “Don’t look at me like that.  A professor’s salary doesn’t pay _all_ the bills - I have to take on a few freelance jobs when you're not around. I think I got that one helping some daft heiress find the lost goblet of Vega 9.  Quite dull. Oh! But, _next week_. Well, two weeks really. The most fascinating dig. Oh, you’d fancy this – right in your wheelhouse. I was hired on a team by this this multi _trillionaire_. No disposition what- _so-ever_. He asked me to sign all sorts of documents.  I'm sure you can guess where I told him he could put them...“ She laughed. “He has me helping him look for this _abandoned planet_ \- an entire library.  Every book ever…“She looked at his sullen face and how quickly it had become so. “...written... What?” Her eyes perked up. “Oh, we haven’t done diaries yet, have we? Here I am prattling on -” She sounded as if she was scolding herself.

 

“No.” He leaned back and looked at her. “I know where we are now.” His head felt cold on the tile wall.  It was almost like the fantasy had been shattered and real life had crept in. He looked at her crestfallen.

 

River was confused for a moment, but then seemed to catch on to something. “Oh, no. This is just a distraction to get out of the fact that _you_ are actually jealous of yourself.”

 

“I am not!” he said indignantly. He raised his arms up above his head and leaned towards her from the wall.

 

Just then Amy’s voice was heard in the hallway along with a knock on the door. “Doctor? Are you still in there?”

 

The Doctor turned his head in the direction of the door and Amy's voice. At the same time, behind The Doctor, he heard the sound of the bathwater in such a way that could only suggest that River was stepping out of the tub. But by the time The Doctor turned back towards the bath, all he saw of River was her leg, as she passed him wrapped in a towel.

 

“River...” he seemed irritated and stood to face her.

 

“Doctor?” Amy asked again from outside the door. “Are you both decent?”

 

River leaned in close to his lips for a moment. “Tell me Doctor, are we decent?” she cooed.

 

The Doctor looked at River crossly.

 

“Not my rule.” She smirked and tucked the top of her towel in a little more, before passing the Doctor, opening the door and disappearing down the hallway. The Doctor stood in the open doorway and watched River disappear down the hall and into a back room. Amy observed on from the shadows, looking upon the Doctor, recognizing the same look on his face from before. It again made Amy uneasy; it scared her. She held the manuscript tight to her chest.

 

“Hi.” Amy said awkwardly and the Doctor turned to see her. “Can we talk about this?” She gestured with the manuscript in his direction.

 

He nodded his head yes.

 

**~**

 

Amy walked into her study first and The Doctor followed. The room looked like most of the house with brown wooden doors, walls and door knobs. The Doctor closed the double doors behind him and turned to Amy.

 

“I’m spending so much time having conversations in closed rooms today I feel like I’m in an Agatha Christie novel,” he joked.  “I mention I met her? Must have. Lovely woman. Aces.  fancied me…” He pulled on his bow-tie with a proud look on his face.

 

“Doctor, this really happens?” Amy waved the manuscript in the air in a disconcerted way.

 

“It would appear so.” The Doctor's tone was serious.

 

“And I wrote it?”

 

“Do you think you didn’t? Because I need to know.” He walked towards her.

 

“No, no it reads like me.  It has my word usage and my sentence structure.  Plus, it has my wonky G's. I have an old typewriter. The G sometimes sticks. If it’s not me, it’s a damn good forgery. And it’s alright I’m reading this? I mean, what about The Melody Malone book? You would only let me read the chapter headings. Is it safe for me to read this?”

 

“That was because we didn’t know what would happen. And if it was bad we couldn’t change it, it would be fixed.  This has already opened, it’s Pandora’s box, but it’s good - this is a _good_ thing, we want this to happen.  It will all be alright, Amelia, trust me.”

 

“But, If we do something different, if something wrong happens and this doesn’t happen will it be like when Rory and I jumped off the roof or like when River wouldn’t kill you ?”

 

“We don’t know.”

 

“I see….” Amy bit her thumb nail and started to pace.

 

“This is the easy bit - what do they say here in America… Easy peasy lemon squeezy?” he said happily and proud of himself, but Amy didn’t appear the same. “Easy as tea cakes?”

 

“Pie… easy as pie,” she nervously corrected him and continued pacing.

 

”You mustn't worry. Tomorrow night, young River pops in and has the baby, we all hide, make sure it all goes according to plan. Just like in _that_ story. She pops out… Young River I mean. We get the map and Bob’s your uncle.”

 

Amy turned from her last pace and nodded her head. She looked up and The Doctor saw tears in her eyes.

 

“Amy?” He asked. “What’s wrong? Something else is wrong, isn’t it? You can tell me. What is it?”

 

“Is the door locked?”

 

“Closed not locked.”

 

Amy walked at a fast gait to the door and locked it. She turned towards the Doctor, her back to the wall, The Doctor walked up to her, seeing she was distressed.

 

“Rory and I... there's this fake brick in the basement, a hiding place. Each week or few weeks we put a letter in there for Melody… for River and then when we open it again we get a response back from sometime in the past. But the thing is...for the last year, there have been no more letters, just the ones that keep piling up on the basement - our letters. She doesn’t answer.”

 

“She’s a very busy girl our River,” he said softly, fearful she was going down a path he never wanted to go with his best friend.

 

“But you see, I see the way you look at her and I look back and Ithink to when I first met River. And I think... in a way you always looked at her that way, but still it’s different this time – It’s a different look – because now you love her now, right? Yeah?”

 

“Amelia…” He needed to stop this, but Amy’s speech went on like a freight train.

 

“And I can’t help remembering something River once wrote us. That early on, very early on, she couldn’t help… _feel_.. .when she was with you - like she was competing with her _future_ self. Like you were chasing... a ghost…” She took a heavy breath. “But maybe she got it half right. Yeah? And maybe I get it now. Maybe _no_ w I get why you tried to run away from her for so long. Why... why you would never admit… “ Her emotions were pouring out as fast as her speech. “Because that look, Doctor – the look I see _now_ … when you think nobody's looking -  that look you give her -  Like it’s been forever since you last say her and I just want to know.  I _deserve_ to know. Is she… is she…” Amy’s face was covered in tears and the Doctor couldn’t take it, he couldn’t look at her, he held in his own tears and averted Amy’s eyes. “Is she dead, Doctor?

 

The Doctor stopped breathing for a moment.

 

“Is my Melody gone?” His silence only upset Amy more.  “Tell me! Please! You have to tell me!!!”  She was hysterical and The Doctor’s face could no longer hold back the truth, confirming to Amy her horrible suspicions. “Nooooo,” her voice was a low rasp.

 

“Amelia Williams…” he said softly and Amy backed away from him. “I am soo, so sorry.”

 

The Doctor took hold of Amy so she couldn’t flee from him and his eyes broke with tears. Amy opened her mouth for a scream and nothing came out. He took her head in his hands and let her fall into the arm of his shoulder. And for the first time the Doctor lamented his grief verbally.

 

“There was nothing I could do. You have to know that I tried. I _tried_ to save her.” He stroked her hair. “And that _your daughter_ gave her life as a hero.” His face was now wet and he made Amy look at him. “She saved... _thousands_ of people.” Amy nodded her head and he put his hands on the sides of her wet cheeks. “ _Millions_ and _Trillions_ of people in her lifetime. She lived a long, _long_ life. And I..I.. loved her… _dearly.”_ And they both cried together. “You have to know that. You have to know that, I _could not_ save her. It was a fixed point. A fixed point…”His mouth opened to cry out, but like Amy he made no sound. “I couldn’t rewrite it…”

 

The one thing The Doctor failed to tell Amy was how he had broken his promise to Amy long before they had ever met. He felt that would have been too hard for Amy to hear – to understand. Instead, he let his friend grieve. Together they grieved.

  
~


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

 

Rory, Clara and Daphne were having a grand old time in the kitchen when Rory gestured wrong and knocked a half full bottle of milk all over the table.

 

Everyone jumped back, but it was too late and most of the milk got on Daphne.  Rory grabbed some cloth napkins off the table.

 

“There’s a few towels under the sink,” Rory gestured to Clara, who turned toward the sink. Rory took the napkins and started to pat Daphne dry. “I'm so sorry. The Doctor and my lovely wife will attest I am a bit of a klutz.”

 

“It’s okay - so am I.” Daphne beamed.

 

“Why don’t we take your jumper and we’ll throw it in the wash.” Rory pulled Daphne's necklace out from under her sweater, as a first step in helping Daphne off with her sweater and that was when he laid eyes on it - the color, the unmistakable writing on it.  He gulped and looked in Daphne's eyes for a moment and then rubbed the locket with held in his emotion. “Clara!?” he called to her.

 

“Coming,” Clara called to Rory sweetly and turned to him, a clean  towel clenched in her hand. It was only when she saw Rory holding the locket around Daphne’s neck that her demeanor changed drastically. “Uh, oh.”

 

Daphne looked terrified that she was in trouble. By the look on both the girls faces Rory knew he wasn't wrong in his thinking – the Doctor had lied.

 

“What is this?” Rory asked in a stern voice. “Amy!?” he called only to find his wife standing in the doorway already, her eyes red, but her face no longer wet.

 

“What's wrong?” Amy asked and then saw what Rory was holding.

 

“A locket….” Rory stood as the Doctor entered the kitchen behind Amy. “A blue locket like the one we’re looking for, I assume.  What is this, Doctor? Explain. _Now_. ”

 

Amy turned to The Doctor in a dazed stupor. “Doctor?”

 

“What is going on here, Doctor?” Rory asked again firmly.

 

“Are you lying to us - about this - about _this_?” Amy was a raw nerve. “Explain?!”

 

“Is…” Rory looked at Daphne. “Our…”

 

Amy smiled and looked at Daphne. “Are you….”

 

“I’m her daughter.” Daphne smiled and she waited for their reaction with apprehension.

 

Amy’s eyes lit up and the smile and color returned to her face. After the talk they had just had The Doctor knew this was a good revelation after all.

 

“I’m sorry…”  The Doctor looked ashamed, but smiled and watched Amy run and give Daphne the biggest hug.

 

“I’m covered in milk,” Daphne cried.

 

Rory joined the hug. “We don’t care.“  

 

Amy and Rory both looked at Daphne's face as if they had never seen it before – they were overjoyed.

 

“I was afraid it would complicate things…” The Doctor put his hands in his pockets.

 

River walked into the kitchen, dressed again after her bath.

 

“What's happened?” River asked.

 

The Doctor smiled. “They found out Daphne’s secret. A little family reunion.”

 

Amy pulled from Daphne's embrace.  “You have to tell us all about your mother --” She looked at River and then back at Daphne. “And all about your life.”

 

“And Grandpa Anthony!” Daphne spit out gleefully.

 

“Rory, she knows Anthony.” Amy put her hand on Rory’s and he laughed through his tears.

 

“Grandpa?” Rory asked. “I know I should be used to all of this by now…” He looked at The Doctor. “But he only just turned twenty-one.”

 

Amy laughed through her tears. “Yes, yes.” She took hold of Rory's hand, still looking at Daphne.

“Tell us all about you and your mother?” Amy pressed with elation.

 

The Doctor stepped forward to stop the questioning, but before he could, River spoke first.

 

“She can’t.” River said softly, holding her diary close to her body.

 

“Why? _Spoilers_?” Amy asked, with a lilt of a laugh.

  
“No, because… because…” Tears came to River's eyes. “Because my daughter’s dead.”

 

Amy looked like she had been hit in the face with a frying pan and for the first time felt a type of familiarly with her daughter she had never felt before, and would never have wished to share with her off-spring.

 

“You took wonderful care of her, but I… I didn’t protect her, after you were gone. Like I tried when I left her in your care, like a mother is meant to do - I was off saving the universe… and she died. She died on my watch.” She looked at Daphne “I am so, so, sorry.” And she put her diary down on the counter and walked out of the room.

 

Amy sprung from her spot and ran after her daughter. She found River sitting dead eyed on the second to the bottom step of the staircase in the foyer. Amy slowly sat next to her daughter, hugged her from the side and then leaned her head on River’s shoulder. River put out her arm to her mother’s head, but didn’t look at her.  After a moment Amy peered up trying to catch River’s eyes, but still River wouldn’t look at her mother.

 

Finally, Amy spoke. “I know you know, I know, more about what you’ve gone through than I wish I did. “ Amy wiped a tear from her own face with her red painted finger nails. “But you gave up your daughter by choice to give her a better life than you had - that’s far more braver in my book. And from all accounts, she had that great life.  She had an amazing daughter and she lived her life. You did everything in your power to protect her.” It was as if Amy was forgiving herself as well as cheering River up. Amy grazed her fingernails over a few more tears under her right eye.

 

“I haven’t thought about her for years. I tried to push her to the back of my mind so I wouldn’t have to remember.  Like I locked it up in a room and threw away the key.  How can a mother not think of her own daughter? But it was what I needed to do – to cope. And I have to pretend it doesn’t hurt me when he doesn’t even call her by her name or that I don’t even know what she grew up to look like. What kind of a mother is that?”

 

“Her name was Susan.” The Doctor walked into the foyer from the shadow of the hallway. “You named her after my granddaughter. And this is who she looked like. And Amy and Rory…. And you.” The Doctor pointed his screwdriver in front of River and Amy, turning it into a 3-D projector of sorts. A series of moving pictures lit up in front of them: talking Susan Williams from a toddler to a young adult, from silent films to talking pictures - ending at the age of 33.

 

River’s eyes shined and her grin returned, as she and her mother smiled through their tears. The final image was of a ginger headed young woman, with curls like her mother, on a picnic with a baby Daphne. And then the Doctor lowered his sonic and his head – for that was the end of the story.

 

The Doctor mashed his lips together for a moment. “Don’t think for a moment that just because I don’t want to use her name that I didn’t want to know everything about her. I think if I push it down and ignore it, it won’t hurt as much. But I’m wrong.”  He looked up at Amy and River. “I started to think this body ‘round that by ignoring things they would just go away – but they don’t. Ignoring endings doesn't mean I don't have to say good-bye and pushing away from my feelings doesn't mean they go away. I’m sorry. ”

 

“Thank you.” River nodded her head and squeezed her mother’s hand. “Thank you,” she said almost without a voice. She didn’t care as much about the words, as she did for his gesture - the images. It was the thought behind it.

 

The Doctor looked River in the eyes. “Good parents can’t stop drunk drivers.” The Doctor looked at Amy. “Or kidnappers.” He looked at them both. “At some point they have to be able to live their own lives.” River nodded, she understood and the Doctor knelt down in front her and talked in private tones. “You protected her the best way you could and it was _brilliant_. A real corker.  Bringing her here, the whole thing was brilliant. It was.” He took River’s hand, which was also holding Amy’s, so now all three of held hands. “I’ve never been so proud of you, River.”

 

Amy stood. “I’ll leave you two alone.” She let go of her daughter’s hand.

 

“No, no” River stood. “I’m fine.” She looked at the Doctor. “We’re fine.”

 

The Doctor nodded his head and took River’s hand and kissed it.  Amy watched with delight.

 

“I have an idea!” The Doctor jumped with joy. “We should dance! Dance, right? Yeah? What does everyone say? What are people doing now? The Lindy. The jazz-a-ma-daz.” He started to dance like a crazy man.

 

“I think that last one you just made up, eh?” Amy scolded him in a teasing tone.

 

“Dance?” River laughed and dried her left cheek with her hand. “Now?”

 

“You really have no idea how to be _properly_ married, do you?” Amy chastised the Doctor.

 

“And I never plan on finding out.” He took River’s hand. “Come, wife!” And with a jolt he had dragged River into the living room shouting to everyone, “Clara, Daphne, Rory and Amy gather 'round!”

 

“What is going on?” Rory entered the living room with Clara close behind. Daphne followed Clara in minus her sweater and wearing a T-shirt that said “Class of '20” on it.

 

“I have no idea,” Amy laughed as she linked arms with her husband by the fireplace.

 

The Doctor was as giddy as a child. “Music. We are going to dance. This is a family reunion after all. What do we have?” The Doctor started to leaf through the records on the shelf against the wall, throwing down the ones he didn’t like.

 

“Hey, whoa…” Rory put his hands up and looked at Amy.

 

“Here, let me…” Amy walked over to the Doctor. “You’ll break all the good ones.”

 

“Don't break any of them...” Rory was testy about his record collection.

 

“You call these good.” The Doctor spoke in Amy's direction. “I have yet to find a Stevie Wonder album anywhere in this lot.”

 

“Oh… I _love_ Stevie Wonder!” River clasp her hands together and almost squealed.

 

“She loves, Stevie Wonder.” The Doctor said matter-a-factly. “In fact, this one time...”

 

“I’ve already heard enough of that story, thank you very much.” Rory didn’t want to hear where that story might have been going. “I have a feeling it doesn’t end where a father should hear.”

 

River smirked; giving Rory a good idea his assumption was correct.

 

Amy took an album off the shelf and walked to the record player. “I think this one will do quite nicely.” She lifted the needle on the player and placed the record from its sleeve onto the turntable.

 

An old 1940’s song started to play and Rory and Amy began to dance.

 

“Oh…” The Doctor grimaced. “This is _old_ people’s music.”

 

“And we…” Amy leaned her head back towards the Doctor. “Are old people.”

 

“We like this kind of music.” Rory said to the Doctor with confidence. “It’s catchy.”

 

“And since The Backstreet Boys haven’t even been born yet, it reminds us of our youth,” Amy retorted.

 

Soon Rory was dancing with River followed by Daphne, while The Doctor danced with Amy, followed by Daphne and so on and so forth, changing partners in a clockwise direction, until almost everyone had danced together except for one pair.

 

It was time to change dance partners once again when The Doctor turned to notice his wife was next. His face changed at the sight of her and River’s smile beamed, as the song played.  The Doctor fixed his hair off his forehead and away from his face with his hand.

 

_We may never, never meet again, on that bumpy road to love_

_Still I'll always, always keep the memory of…_

 

They both appeared a little awkward at first. But as it was soon obviously that they were the only two without partners the couple walked slowly toward, each other and fell into a traditional dance pose like a puzzle that fit together – River tried not to lead.  They looked into each other’s eyes, obviously smitten. River took a strand of her hair off the Doctor’s sleeve and tossed it aside before taking his hand again. Amy and Rory who had been dancing watched them with a smile.

 

“Tell me, River?” He asked in a whispered. “Who else knew?  Other than Amy and Rory, who else did you confide in? I want to know,” he asked in all sincerity.

 

“A second yellow flag on the field, Doctor,” she scolded him playfully. “That’s an automatic red this match. Could mean expulsion from the game, possibly the next,” she teased. “Who says I told anyone else?” She lied directly to his face, she had learned from the best.

 

“You did everything to suggest so on the Tardis,” he reminded her. “I’m asking, River.  Now that everything’s out in the open. Just this one time, can’t you grant my request?” He was so earnest, River was taken aback. “For my own piece of mind.”

 

She took a breath, as if to say it was against her better judgment and then looked away for a moment before looking back  into his eyes again. “ Vastra, Jenny – Strax,”

 

“Of course,” he said almost as an aside.

 

“They hid me - took care of me. I owe them a great deal. They were kind.”

 

“Yes… “ The Doctor said with deep meaning. “They are very, _very_ good at that.” He pulled River in closer and they continued to dance – he was so close he could smell her hair.

 

The moment was very moving to River – they had not been this way in her time stream for a long time.

 

The Doctor went to speak again and River put her finger to his lips, he was surprised to see how fast she appeared overcome with emotion.  “Hush now, my Love. You’ll ruin the moment.”

 

The Doctor nodded his head and pulled her in close again for the end of the song. It was for the best that The Doctor hadn’t finished his thought anyway, he thought to himself. And like always, somehow, River knew that.

 

_The way you hold your knife_

_The way we dance till three_

_The way you change my life_

_No, no, they can't take that away from me…_

 

The others must have been carrying on perhaps a little loudly, as suddenly, the door-bell rang.

 

“Who could that be?” Amy went for the door. River and The Doctor broke apart and looked towards where Amy had gone off too. The song changed to a more up-beat Dean Martin song.

 

~

 

Amy opened one of her large front doors to find her neighbor Joe, about her age, standing in his flannel bathrobe and wire rimmed glasses. He shuddered a bit at the loudness of the music and people inside the house.

 

“Oh, Joe, hello?” She was surprised and embarrassed to see him.

 

“Gladys and I saw the light. Are you having a party? It’s almost 4am.” He poked his head in for a peak.

 

The Doctor appeared in the foyer forming a conga line with Daphne, Clara and River. “Oh, hello there!” He smiled. “Come join the fun.” The Doctor directed his sonic toward the kitchen. “And this way!”

 

“Sorry…” Amy squinted her eyes and furrowed her forehead.  

 

“ _Who_ was that?”

 

“Just your average psychological humanoid defense mechanism…” Amy joked and then released who she was joking in front of.

 

“Hi, Joe… “ Rory appeared near his wife. “Sorry about the noise.”

 

“Family.” Amy put her arm out and spoke awkwardly . “Surprise visit from family.... from Leadworth – they’re not use to the... time difference. We’ll keep the music down.” Amy held the door a little shut to block off the view to the house.

 

“I thought you said both your families were lost in the war?”

 

“Cousins…” Amy seemed to throw the word out oddly.

 

“Distant cousins…” Rory continued.

 

“ _Very_ distant.”  Amy continued.

 

Amy and Rory waited for Joe to say something, to buy their story. Finally he laughed.  “I have in-laws like that.”

 

Amy and Rory both gave each other looks with their eyes that only they understood, for Joe was far more on the nose than he knew.

 

“Thanks for understanding, Joe.” Rory thanked him and Amy shut the door after Joe wished Rory and she a good night.

 

“That was close.” Amy smiled and they returned to the living room with their arms around each other.

  
“Melody!” Amy turned into another room, as she yelled to her daughter. “Mummy says open another bottle of wine.” She kissed Rory on the mouth hard, taking him by surprise. “I’m just so happy to have them in the house.”

 

Rory nodded in agreement.

 

**~**

 

Outside the William’s front door Joe Betherston chucked to himself and took two steps off the landing, whistling a Cat Stevens song before singing a few of the lyrics “ _oh, trouble, please be kind. I don't want no fight, And I haven't got a lot of time...”_ Joe hit the last step of the brownstone and froze. His face ran cold and his body became stiff yet limp. His face grimaced for a moment until the skin on his forehead peaked and cracked, and a large Dalek eyestalk burst forth from his skull. The eyestalk glowed with a bright light, almost like a searchlight, which he then used to guide himself through the dark night street – Joe was a Dalek Puppet.

  
  
THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING - it helps the writer.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

"Well, that's a rubbish year." River was standing on a wooden bench at the end of a long hallway looking at an assortment of wines her parents had housed in a large cupboard next to the bench itself.

Clara walked in and stood next to the edge of the stall. "Your mother told me to tell you to bring in the '48."

"Good idea. Mummy is brilliant. Great taste in wine." River took the bottle next to the one she had been looking at and Clara offered her hand to help River down. "Runs in the family."

"So you and I know each other in the future?" Clara asked with a spark in her eye.

River hit the ground with both feet fully planted and shook her hair from her face. "Spoilers."

"How did we meet, then? I can at least know that, right?" Clara was giddy.

"Spoilers, again." River then got a look on her face and sat down on the bench. She patted the spot beside her for Clara to sit and Clara followed River's direction. "You shouldn't want to know too much about your own future, Clara. Knowing too much about your own future is dangerous."

"'Cause of paradoxes?"

"Well, yes. Those too. Paradoxes resolve themselves, by and large. The trouble - one can never know which ones can _truly_  be rewritten and which ones can't." She looked at Clara with a smile. "Life has to be lived, Clara. All the beginnings and middles and endings of it..."

"So you don't have a problem with endings like The Doctor does?"

"He didn't use to." She smiled at Clara bitter sweetly. "If you'd lived so many lives and lost so many people. If you'd had that much hurt you wouldn't like endings either. "

"Humans, you mean. Him. Out-living us."

"Any race. Humans may have less of a life span than Time Lords, but even Time Lords have endings. Endings are a part of life. But you know what the best parts of endings are?" She leaned in like she was about to share a great secret. "After every ending comes a wonderful new beginning." River looked off towards the living room at the end of the hall where she could see The Doctor catching up with Amy and Rory, being his gregarious self. River nodded her head for Clara to take a look. "I mean look at that face. My him indoors. That young, puerile face he picked out for himself. Why he acts like a big child most of the time."

"But, that's just… The Doctor, being The Doctor." Clara smiled and looked back at River.

"Yes, many of his faces - this one especially. It's his coping mechanism. But don't worry." She smiled. "He'll get over that soon. I don't know how, but he does." She got a glint in her eye. "Little spoiler for you."

Clara smiled huge. "Well, I'll never leave him." She looked back at River.

"You said it yourself, we're  _human_. I may have Time Lord DNA, but I can't regenerate anymore. I gave them up to save him. One day I will leave him too. And you. I'm sorry Clara but he will outlive all of us. It is his nature."

"Do you know… how long he has?" Clara asked, frighten for the future, knowing she could never tell River where she had been, Trenzalore, and with River's data ghost to boot – too many spoilers.

"No. I don't. I've collected as many of his faces as I can find. Paintings, old history books – legends, and then I paste them in my diary. I have a feeling I have as many as you've met, I'd imagine."

"You know about me, then?" Clara was shocked considering their ghost conversation on Trenzalore. "About the lives I've led?" It then dawned on Clara that River's Data Ghost must have had to pretend for the sake of spoilers – in fact she remembered River hadn't really talked her out of it, just gave her the facts of the situation. Yet, as the Doctor told it, she had battled him at every stop to jump in his own time stream to save her.

"Yes, I know. But again not how. Like with my parents, I knew they got trapped here in New York in 1938, but I didn't know how until it was happening right in front of me. The bits I learn that aren't from my own adventures with The Doctor I have to piece together in my diary, the life of an Archaeologist. Putting the pieces in the right order. I rarely get it all right. The order I mean."

"Wait?" She got a confused look on her face and tilted her head towards River. "Does this mean we've actually met in the future or do you know me from… some archeology dig?"

River shifted her head towards Clara and gave her an impish look. "You're not going to get anything out of me, so stop trying. " She bobbed Clara on the nose and got up to walk away. She had taken a few steps away when Clara stopped her with her final question.

"Did you ever meet Rose?" Clara asked sincerely.

River stopped short, turned to Clara and plainly asked. "Did you?"

"Spoilers," she said with delight.

River smiled sweetly at Clara and walked closer to her and the bench. "Now you're learning." She sat down next to Clara again. "Yes, I know about Rose, and his first wife on Gallifrey, Queen Elizabeth, all of it. "

"It doesn't bother you?"

"There will be a time when you understand this more, but a man like The Doctor, who has lived and will live so many lives, has two hearts... there's no way he could have only  _one_  love. He loved Rose, she was an important part of his life and therefore... mine. I know he loves me and that's all I need. I'm very confident in that. Every man comes with a past and a future, and no one more than the Doctor. I'd expect this is something you two could bond over, living so many lives – meeting the same people." She stood up. "I think this little chat will come in handy the next time we meet."

Clara felt so connected to River; she started to confess her heart. "I don't have anyone to talk to about this. I mean like we are now. The Doctor and I just don't talk about it. We just don't. We talk about other things, but not this. See, all the lives... I led..." She tried not to give away too much. "Well, I lived them with a purpose,  _one single purpose._  I remember some bits and I've read about others. But it's not me...it's just…echoes of me." She took a breath and River took hold of her hand. "No matter what I can remember or not, I know the purpose I had was always so... clear." She watched River nod her head. "And the more I read about  _you,_ the more I felt you of all people could understand that. The more I kept looking and going where I shouldn't have. Thinking, maybe, that even that could be my purpose. To help. For in this life... I don't know what my purpose is. I don't have one as... strong, as  _epic_. So maybe, I feel... if I know what is going to happen, in my future...I'll know – that I have a real purpose... in my future... and it will make my present less… perplexing."

"Isn't teaching enough?" River asked, but she really didn't ask, she more stated. "The lives you change change the world. Maybe one day the universe. I've seen it in my own classrooms."

"Yeah? See, you teach? Is it enough?" Clara knew River's answer already considering the life she knew River led; it was more a rhetorical question.

River smiled and shook her head, "no"

"I never felt this way before – it's why I took the job at Coal Hill School... after... but I still feel this way now."

"Clara, we  _all_  have a purpose, every life has a purpose, and, believe me, you more than any. Trust me." River stood and handed Clara the wine in her hand. Clara took the bottle and stood.

"How do you do it?" Clara asked. "Stay so optimistic. After everything you've been through?"

"Comes from living a life with a man that's back to front." She said with a playful smile. "You learn to savor the good days. Today is a good day. My parents are alive. The Doctor knows who I am. And for a brief moment, The Doctor and I... we aren't…. like two dogs chasing their own tails. You need to find those moments in life, Clara. For yourself. Days to live for. The blessed days.  _Your_  special days, while they're happening in front of you. They are the meaning of life. I'm afraid, Clara, if you don't tend to the future now, you won't have a future once you get there. That is a lesson you need to take to heart before it is too late." She smiled. "Now... "She put her arm through Clara's arm. "I say we go enjoy ourselves." River smirked at Clara.

Clara smiled back at River. "The Doctor says I'm very clever. _I_  think we're friends in the future, yeah?" Clara raised her eyebrows at River and took her arm out from River arm to face her.

River smiled and then turned towards the other room, but was called back around by the sound of Clara's voice.

"I see now why you're both so well matched." Clara paused and nodded her head with a smile. "You ground him, don't you?" she said with sincerity.

River smiled, but said nothing. Clara wondered if she had hit a nerve, but she felt no malice coming from River, or hurt - just a silence longer than was normal - which caused Clara to remember something.

"Oh!" Clara exclaimed as if the idea had just come to her head. "My notebook!" Her eyes almost bugged out. " 'scuse me. Sorry." She turned to run away, but then stopped and spun back around towards River. " Take this in, will you? " She handed the wine back to River. "Sorry!" Clara ran off. "Be back in a jif!"

Clara paused before entering the Williams Kitchen and smiled at a familiar sight on the door frame. Just like in Rory's father's kitchen there was a series of marks with heights and ages, only this time it was for Amy and Rory's son Anthony, scratched in the wood. Clara followed the heights and groves of ages with her finger for a moment and her face filled with joy.

Clara walked into the Kitchen and looked around. She found her notebook on a chair and sighed with relief that it wasn't completely covered in milk. "Eww," she grimaced, as she picked up the notebook and shook off a few wet parts.

She turned to exit back into the hallway when she saw a startling surprise - River's diary just sitting on the countertop. Clara stared at the book with deep intention. She put her hand towards the diary and then pulled it back instantly while River's words echoed in her head. Clara quickly turned her back to the book, but the look on her face made it clear Clara desperately wanted to read the sections UNIT hadn't let her read. Her self-control was battling against her. Clara slowly walked towards the diary again, knowing she was about to do wrong.

"Just walk away. Distract yourself. Walk away. Read your own notebook." She reached her hand towards River's diary and then spun away fast to stop herself, or had she heard someone coming. Her heart skipped a head.

It was then that Rory entered the Kitchen. "Clara, you look lost?"

Clara looked at Rory with a caught look on her face. "Eh, yeah... My notebook." She showed Rory the wet papers. "I was hoping to dry off the pages before they stick."

"I'll get you a hair dryer. Follow me."

"Thanks." Clara smiled and followed Rory out of the kitchen.

Rory entered the lounge from the kitchen with a towel over his shoulder and a wine opener in his hand. He handed Amy the opener.

"So what's married life for you two?" Amy asked wryly and began to open the wine bottle in front of her. "Jet setting around the universe, I  _suppose,"_  she stated with comic melodramatic fascination. The wine bottle opened with a pop. She began to pour two glasses of wine.

"You know  _typical…"_  The Doctor made a boring matter-of-fact-face. "For a boy meets girl, gets married in an alternate universe, travels through time and space couple. "

"Yeah,  _typical."_  Amy joked statistically and handed River, who had been lounging on the couch, one of glasses of wine she had just poured.

"That brings something up, Doctor." Rory waved off a glass of wine from his wife. "I hope you don't mind me asking. "It's just - had a lot of...time to think it through, but, eh, are you two really married?" Amy hit Rory. "Oww." He gave her a sour look.

"Of course were married," River responded gleefully.

"I just mean…You  _were_ married in an alternate universe. Does that even count? "

"Oh, it  _always_ counts," River said seductively.

"Hello, parents, right here…" Rory waved in River's direction. Amy laughed at her husband. Rory looked at the Doctor. "And you were an android…" Rory pointed his finger at the Doctor as if to continue his point.

"What kind of wedding was it?" Daphne asked. "Were there bridesmaids?"

"Oh, it wasn't a proper wedding." River ran her fingers along the edge of her glass and smiled at her granddaughter.

"Slap dash combat wedding." The Doctor seemed rather proud of that fact

"The most romantic kind." River took a sip of her wine with a grin.

"I remember most of it. Not all of it." Amy said with despair. "I used to remember more, but now it's faded."

"Same here." Rory interjected. "Or maybe it's hard because we didn't quite know who we were at the time," Rory bemused.

The Doctor looked at Amy and Rory and then at River. "Well... I certainly don't want my father-in-law thinking we're not married, River." He called to her, "Come here." He gestured to her with his fingers.

"What am I doing?" She didn't move from her seat.

"Here. Now. I'm giving you a proper wedding."

"How is  _this_  a proper wedding?" she teased and sipped her wine.

"Real time." He spun in Rory and Amy's direction with his hands and fingers ablaze. "Real me. Parents who know they're your parents. What else could you ask for? It's time we did this right." He looked at her.

"You don't have to do this. I'm not a girl who  _needs_ a wedding," she assured him with a lilt in her voice. "Now a new square-ness gun, that I could use."

"And where would one register for that?" Rory asked in a joking manner.

"Well, you're getting one. A wedding I mean. The gun you'll have to fend for on your own." The Doctor gestured to River and then looked at Rory. "Rory, can you hand me that - what's over your shoulder. " He pointed toward the towel in Rory's hand. "Yes, that will do." He outreached his hand towards Rory.

"Oh, no…" River stood. "I'm not getting married with a  _tea towel."_  She marched over to him.

"Well, what do you expect I use, River!? I don't go walking around with a sacramental Gallifreyan marriage  _ribbon_  in my  _back pocket_."

"Are you two actually going to have a fall-out… now?" Amy scolded.

"You silly, boy…" River cooed. "You're never sentimental at the right times." She slowly took apart his bow tie and pulled it from around his neck. The Doctor liked that. River started to bind it around her hand.

"River Song, Melody Pond...Williams," The Doctor said in his most gravitas voice. Rory enjoyed that last part. "Are you ready for me to make an honest woman of you?"

"Oh, god," she hissed. "I hope not," she remarked with a wicked tone.

The Doctor smirked and took the other end of his bow tie and bound it to his own hand. "Let us begin."

"Wait! Wait..." Amy shouted and grabbed flowers from a vase on the fireplace mantel and handed them to Daphne "Flower girl." She then put a flower in River's hair, who smiled at her mother. "Okay, father - Mother of the bride." She took Rory's arm and positioned herself and Rory next to River. Amy smiled and then noticed that everyone else in the room was staring at her. "Come on, this is one shot at planning my daughter's wedding. Let me have it." She held Rory's arm tighter.

"Where's Clara?" The Doctor asked and looked around.

Rory raised his head towards The Doctor. "She's in the laundry room drying out her notebook." Everyone gave Rory an odd look. "It made more sense in my own head. I spilled milk on her notebook… before." He looked at the group as he explained.

"No matter. We'll catch her up with what she missed on her return. "The Doctor looked back at River.

"You can still get out of it," River teased him.

"Not a chance." He gestured to Rory and kept his eyes on River. "Rory, repeat after me –"

"Oh, I remember this bit. I consent and gladly give." He looked at Amy.

"I consent and gladly give." Amy's eyes got moist.

The Doctor looked are River. "Do you?" he asked.

"Like that hasn't been obvious." She smiled. "Do you?" She asked with a sinful tone.

"Always." The Doctor hadn't looked so happy in centuries. "Now, River Song, Melody Pond  _Williams_ , now you're the girl who married me  _twice_. Now let anyone say we're  _not_ married."

"I never thought otherwise." She shook her head at him in a know-it-all-way.

"Someone needs to stop your mouth from speaking."

"Oh, shut up. I'd like to see you try." Her grin was large.

"Try me..." he whispered.

" _Make_ me..." she trilled back in a whisper.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"You…" She teased him and wobbled her head.

"Kiss your husband, Wife."

The Doctor and River kissed and everyone applauded.

Clara leaned over a washer and dryer with an old style hair dryer in her hand, even older than the time period she was in, positioned over the pages of her notebook. She didn't look very happy and mostly disgruntled at the prospect of all of her notes close to ruin. Luckily it was mostly the edges that were wet with a few pages stuck together. Still Clara was determined to make sure it didn't get worse. Clara turned off the hair dryer and checked to see how she was doing. The hum of the clothes washer was now louder to her ears.

"Not bad." She flipped through a few pages, checking them to be sure they weren't stuck together, reviewing her writing as she went. It was on the third flip of the page that Clara stopped cold. "Hold on…" She lifted her body up into a standing position. Her face was as white as a sheet. "Doctor!" Clara ran out of the laundry room with a firm hold on her journal.

"Doctor!" Clara ran into the living and the aftermath of the happy event.

"Clara, there you are!?" The Doctor put both his hands out, his bow tie loosely around his neck and a glass of wine in his right hand. "You missed the whole thing." He saw her face, she looked flushed and out of breath, but it was too happy to take it all in yet. "I got married...  _again_!" he said gleefully and showed Clara the glass of red wine in his hand. "I'm drinking wine. I almost never do that. Look at me!" He raised both his arms in the air. "I'm drinking wine! " It was then that The Doctor really saw Clara's face. "Clara, what's wrong? Something's wrong." He got serious very quickly.

Everyone looked concerned and approached Clara and the Doctor.

"Clara what it is? What's wrong?" River asked with a glass of wine in her hand and the flower now gone from her hair.

"I was looking back at my notes; being sure the milk didn't ya know -" She took a breath.

"Yes…" The Doctor finished for Clara and encouraged her to continue with the gesture of his head.

"Drying them off. And my notes, they've changed."

"Changed? How?' The Doctor seized the notepad from Clara and River read over their shoulders.

"I  _distinctly_  remembering writing down River and the baby arrived on the 16th November - only now it says the 15th. Today."

"No..." River spoke up. "It can't be. You must have written it down wrong the 16th November. Tomorrow night." The Doctor looked at River, he knew how bright Clara was, and they needed to believe her.

River walked into the empty kitchen and took hold of her diary. "I have a fake entry, written in code, so I would never forget. Not that I ever could." She opened the book and flipped a few pages. Her face went white. "Doctor…" She looked at him nervously. "She's right. It's changed. It says here the 15th November. Sunrise. I would never forget that date. Never. " River was concerned.

The Doctor had just finished securing his bow-tie to his neck. "That must have been why the calculations kept changing. Time is changing… " The Doctor was also concerned. "But how and why?"

"How do we remember? " Clara asked standing next to Amy near the doorway.

The Doctor looked at Clara. "You're a time traveler now, Clara – you will remember all your time lines from now on. Most bits." He looked around. "Need to - figure." He kept turning and looking at everyone. "Was it something we did? But, how? River is coming from the future. So it can't be us who's changing time. So, who… who is changing time. Time is being re-written. By who and from where?"

Rory walked into the kitchen from the second doorway with Daphne in a new sweater. "I had her put on one of Anthony's old jodhpur's - fits pretty well." He smiled and saw something was going on. "Why is he spinning like that?" he asked Amy, who came over and dangled her arms around Daphne's neck from behind

"He's thinking." She kissed the top of Daphne's head.

"Ahhh…" Rory pretended like that was a good answer.

River was now more than concerned, she was downright frightened. "Doctor, obviously, someone in the future is changing my time stream.  _I_  must be the anomaly."

"Hold on…" Clara stepped up. "What about what The Doctor just said – " She turned to The Doctor. "Wouldn't River remember?"

The Doctor spoke up. "Not if it's incrementally– no... she wouldn't. River's time stream is being re-written by mere hours - moments even. Like pointillism in time -"

"How?" Clara asked confused.

River continued for the Doctor and spoke quickly. "A missed meeting, a delayed moment, a diversion that makes you turns left instead of right. Forgotten moments that can become retrospectively dangerous."

"Unknown buoys in  _sea_  of trouble." The Doctor looked as distressed as River.

"Doctor…" An idea hit Amy like a bolt of lightning and she approached the Doctor. "You said younger River, from the future,  _pinged_  on to mine and Rory's DNA, right? What if _this_  time River pinged onto Daphne's DNA instead of ours? What if Daphne is now the beacon? What if that's why time is changing?"

River answered for the Doctor. "It can't be. The locket doubles as a DNA cloaker."

Rory cleared his throat awkwardly and everyone turned to look at him. He raised two fingers at the group, to show he had something to say. "What would happen..  _if.._. she took the locket off… say _just_  for a moment?"

The Doctor turned sad with concern. "Rory, you didn't?"

"I had to pull her jodhpurs off to put in the wash – it was in the… "He paused to retain his thoughts. " You know, in my own defense  _no one told_  me that."

"Right. Yes. Okay." The Doctor nodded his head and then scratched the back of it.

Rory turned to Amy. "It's like now that he's back I've regressed back about thirty years."

Amy consoled her husband by rubbing his back. "What now, Doctor? Can we stop it? Can River and the baby be put back on course? Should it even matter?" She looked at Rory. "As long as they get there safely?" She looked a the Doctor with a hurried concern. "Right, Doctor? Doctor, why aren't you reassuring me they'll be fine?"

"Because I can't anymore." The Doctor had a laser focus on Rory. "How long ago, Rory? How long was it off from around her neck? Be  _specific_."

"At about half past…. And just a minute or two. Not long."

The Doctor took in a heavy breath. This was confirmation enough for him that the timeline had been re-written, and it worried the Doctor greatly - his face said it all. "A beacon has been found. It cannot be stopped. She's a comin'."

The lights then started to flicker on and off for a moment. A radio turned on for another instant playing the same Cat Stevens song Joe had been singing earlier and then it turned off just as quickly.

"That can't be good…" Clara commented.

"Oh, no it happens a lot." Rory remarked. "Old house."

"Nooo." The Doctor looked around. "I smell something…."

"What?" River questioned.

The Doctor licked his finger and put it out in the air.

Amy held her stomach and felt nauseous for a moment. "Oh, I smell it too…"

"Amy?" Rory questioned and put his hand on her shoulder. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Daphne looked at Amy, also concerned.

"I'm not sure. It's like it reminds my body of something." Amy seemed to recover.

"It's perfume. I know that perfume." River was not happy and pulled out her gun.

The Doctor turned away from everyone, facing the door, and spoke softly. "I smell trouble." But he said it more like he was ready for a fight then with fear, for he had his answer. "Proper trouble."

The lights went out again and then returned on as quickly as they had gone off, only now they had a special visitor.

Madame Kovarian stared down the group, her 52nd century gun firmly pointed towards them. She looked the same as the last time Amy, Rory, River and The Doctor had seen her – red lips, black suit, except this time, they could see both of her eyes.

River positioned her gun at Kovarian and there appeared to be a stand-off. Amy held onto Daphne tightly from behind and Rory stood firm next to Amy like the great Centurion of old. Clara looked confused and The Doctor appeared ready for his figurative brawl. This was a woman who did not scare him, but her mere presence did anger him.

"Well, well, back for a second child, are we?" The Doctor said with a confident sarcasm.

Amy pulled Daphne tighter to her body.

"Didn't my wife kill you?" Rory asked in a boastful and defiant tone.

"Only in an alternate universe," Kovarian answered with a cool power. "In an aborted timeline..."

The Doctor spoke, "And back like a bad penny. "

"I'd say, Doctor, you're in a spot of trouble." Kovarian gripped her gun with ease.

"I don't remember inviting you to my wedding day, this time or the last," he said to her in his most overconfident voice.

"Doctor?" Clara asked in a fearful inquisitive way. "Who's this? An old friend of yours, eh?" She asked knowing full well this woman didn't look like a friend.

"Clara, meet Madam Kovarian." He gestured toward Clara. " _Not_ a pleasure I'm sure."

"The lady who kidnapped River as a baby?" Clara asked, softly, almost to herself.

"In the  _flesh_. Pun intended. I use puns now. Puns are cool," he said crisply.

River held tighter to her gun. "Don't think I'll let you do to my family what you did to me."

"River -" The Doctor was anxious she would do something drastic. "Don't - she's not taking anyone anywhere ever again. Not on my watch."

"You really think that's what this is about? I'm repetitive, but not _that_  repetitive." She looked at The Doctor and narrowed her eyes. "This is about what it's always been about… " She paused for a moment. "Trenzalore."

"Trenzalore?" The Doctor was shocked and a bit nervous to hear that word come from a woman holding a gun in his direction.

"He's never going to Trenzalore." River eyed Kovarian. "Over my dead body he's not."

Kovarian smirked. " _Interesting_  choice of words, dear."

The Doctor did not like that last remark.

"What's Trenzalore?" Amy asked.

"Where, not what. A planet." The Doctor glared at Kovarian as he spoke. "Named in a prophecy that predicts my death. But prophecies can be misinterpreted…. or misunderstood."

"Not this one." Kovarian said with malice and a wicked smile on her face.

"If I die there, then why all this fuss about killing me?  _Feels_ redundant."

"Because Trenzalore was never about your death, dear Doctor, it was about what  _you_ , upon your death brought to life and the long, bitter war you let rage on. It is about stopping you from ever getting there, from bringing back the Time Lords - to bring back peace. It was never about Trenzalore." She leaned in. " _This_  is now Trenzalore," she hissed.

Amy took Rory's hand and squeezed it.

"The map," The Doctor said soft and slowly, with one eye on River and the other on Madame Kovarian. "You're after the map. I see now… You _knew_  all along that River was the key. That she would find it - Gallifrey - find it for me. Change River's destiny, change mine. Just a pawn in all your possible scenarios -  _not_  to find it. Change River, stop the madman; stop the war and if that wasn't enough, in the biggest of all ironies you turn her into a psychopath to kill me, only again I assume, time rewrites itself and I totally married her - again, for the first time. All you keep doing is causing what you're trying to stop. You can't win. You're stuck in your own  _destiny trap._  You can't change anything because you're the reason it happened. So, what makes you think this time it's going to work?" The Doctor had another thought. "But, wait… how are you even here? The fabric of time must be on thin ice if it let someone else through and we're all still here. Why didn't you bounce off 1969 on entry? Oh!." He seemed delighted with his discovered. "They left you here, didn't they? The Silence - at least your followers in 1969 - after I beat them at their own game and you lost the little girl. You lost Melody. You  _lost_  her. And now…  _and now_ …You have no way of getting back." He smiled at her. "Here for a lift?" he smirked grandly . "I'm not a taxi service, I'm afraid." He held his jaw and teeth tight.

"Oh, enough, can't I just shoot her now," River asked with little concern.

"Patience, River." The Doctor walked closer to Kovarian in a confident stride. "That can be a problem with the wife, she's so impatient. But yet, I still adore her none the less. Big hair; big heart." He was now inches from Kovarian's gun. " _Great shot_ ," he said in an intimidating tone.

Kovarian was just as confident. "No escape plan can make a person far more fearless. Having no end game. A  _dangerous_  combination, wouldn't you say, Doctor? Or am I not alone, perhaps? I, like you, have learned to be a "mighty warrior" and mighty warriors _don't_  get left behind."

The Doctor looked at her and shook his head; he still had it up on her. "Really?" He leaned in for his final verbal jab. "If you're not alone, where's your  _eye drive,_  then? "

Kovarian flinched slightly and The Doctor knew he had the upper hand. No eye-drive meant no Silence around.

"Gotcha!" The Doctor exclaimed in delight. "Six against one. Including one psychopath with a weapon and a Doctor with a sonic." He brandished his sonic like it was a badge of honor. "Come on then, you don't stand a  _chance._ "

Madame Kovarian pulled something out of her pocket with her free hand - and held it to show The Doctor - it was a sonic screwdriver, it looked just like his own screwdriver. "I think you mean _two_ , Doctor."

"Where did you get that?" The Doctor asked flabbergasted and a bit fearful.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kovarian smirked. "I did come from Trenzalore." Kovarian smiled large and laughed.

The Doctor looked frightened - he understood now.

"Ohhh...and the  _penny_  drops…." she hissed. "You see, I've also been to The Truth Caves Of Prophecy as well, Doctor," she cackled. "And I know prophecy comes true..." She leaned in and almost murmured, " ...because I've _seen_  it happen." She laughed again and pointed the sonic in her hand towards Daphne.

"Time Lord, Time Lord," the sonic sounded.

River took advantage of Kovarian's cockiness and sent a blaster shot right at her gun, disarming her, and sending her weapon halfway across the room.

Kovarian then lifted the screwdriver in hand towards the ceiling and the lights literally went out. Everyone screamed. The lights turned back on, but Kovarian was gone and the front door was wide open.

"Daphne!" The Doctor yelled and turned to see Amy still had a hold of her.

"She's here, I have her, she's here," Amy assured him and even more herself.

"Where did she go?" Clara asked.

"She's gone. I don't care where," Amy retorted.

"I wouldn't be so fast to say that, Mother." River walked up to Daphne, kissed her forehead and then looked into her eyes to be sure she was alright.

The Doctor had no time to waste. "River's right, I'm sorry to say, but she's out there and she's dangerous, even more so out of our sights. And she has what looks like  _my_  sonic. So, if anyone is keeping score I think we have our number one candidate as to who might have nicked half the map from _that_  locket."

Clara chimed in "There's still a chance we we're the ones to do it, yeah? " Clara tried to be positive.

The Doctor nodded his head. "Yes, but we're already re-written time just by being here. I don't know how, but we have. And it would appear; somehow someone else is manipulating the past,  _here_ , from the future. Playing with what happens on  _this_  day. And I'm not just talking about Daphne. This is bigger. It has to be. Kovarian being discovered before she tries to nick half that map, if she is in fact the one to do so is all  _new_ territory. Time is no longer just  _in flux_ \- it is _fluxing_  - a fluxing point. From now on everything that happens here is  **new**." He took in a discontented breath. "There are too many "what if's"  _running around_  right now for my taste.

"I guess the scenario in which she doesn't come back  _isn't_ on the table?" Rory asked sarcastically.

"River, how long do we have now until the younger you arrives?" The Doctor asked her.

River looked at the watch on her wrist. "Forty-five minutes according to the changed entry." She looked at him. "Plan?"

"Right," The Doctor set out what needed to ensue with great speed. "Alright, plan. First, we need to find Kovarian, stall her, at least enough time for young River to pop in, have the baby, so Daphne _will be_  born and we're sure we are the ones to  _rip_ that map in half and not Kovarian." He took a big breath. "Either way, that baby needs to be born and  _that_  map needs to be ripped or we could have a paradox on our hands. If Kovarian isn't out there creating them as we speak." He paused.

He looked at Amy who nodded her head. "Worst case scenario here?" Amy asked point blank.

"A new big bang right in your own backyard," The Doctor said flatly. "The equivalent of a nuclear explosion and we'd be grown zero."

Amy continued for The Doctor. "So, the entire universe or at least this planet imploding in on itself, yeah, sounds like an average day with you."

"Well, just New York…" he grumbled. The Doctor went into plan direction mode. "Now…Rory, Amy, Clara take Daphne down to the cellar and lock the door. I noticed all the door knobs in the house are wooden. Old house, no windows down there, perfect for our needs. We'll let you know when we have Kovarian and it's safe to come out. " He opened the cellar door and patted Rory on the shoulder. "I leave them in your care Centurion." Rory nodded his head. "Don't beat yourself up on this one. This wasn't your fault." He nodded at Rory and Rory nodded back.

"I can stay and protect them," River said firmly and raised her gun.

"No, River, I'll need your help to secure Kovarian. And we'll need to be sure she doesn't find the Tardis." He threw Rory his sonic and he caught it. "Rory and Amy can handle themselves." He grinned at Rory. "Just in case." He turned to the group.

Rory took a key off a peg under a mirror in the hallway and then took a stand next to the cellar door. Clara noticed the mirror was across from an armoire – they were the objects from the manuscript that River would be smashing into soon.

Amy chimed in. "Isn't it safer for us on the Tardis?"

"Not so close to battle – remember what happened to River. No, no, much too dangerous – not to mention too Timey-Wimey. We  _cannot_  risk any more changes to your time streams. Best everyone with a future stays  _here_. "

Amy spoke up with concern in her voice."So,  _now_  we're taking like when River wouldn't kill you, right? All of time stopping. Happening at once. If Rory or I or both of us were to die _._ "

"Only worse," The Doctor said with concern.

"Worse than our deaths?" Rory questioned, agog.

"Worse because there would be no way to come back from it. No fail safe. It would be permanent." Amy nodded her head at The Doctor. She understood and wasn't ready to take any chances. "Trust me, Amy." The Doctor approached her and took her face in his hands. "I will do everything in my power to protect your family."

Amy took his hands in hers. "Our family." She kissed him on the cheek and took Daphne's hand towards the basement. She kissed Rory on the cheek as she passed him in the doorway, and then ran down the steps.

"What about me?" Clara asked with anticipation. "What's my  _job_ in all this?"

"Like I said, in the cellar…" He motioned towards the door with his hands.

"That makes no sense  _chin boy_." Clara folded her arms and gave him a cross look.

"I see you have more of your past life memories now." The Doctor was impressed.

"Really?" Clara was happy to remember something more. She shared a look with River, but then got back to what was at hand. "See, best I understand I'm a time traveler now too –" she said sarcastically. "I don't need my time line / time stream _protected_ or whatever other nonsense you decide to make up to stop me. I'm not just some  _tag_  along."

The Doctor put his hands on Clara's forearms. "You don't know how dangerous she is – or the people she associates with. This isn't play fun anymore, Clara. I don't want you getting hurt. "

"Dangerous, eh? Since when has that worked on me before?" She looked at him sideways and he lifted his hands off her arms.

"Clara, you are very precious to me. And the fact that I haven't lost you by now is in itself a miracle. If anything happened to you I'd never forgive myself. Now, we're running out of time, in the cellar, now. Quickly.  _Please_."

"So, what's so safe about the cellar? Anyone could be in there." Clara tilted her head at him and waited for her answer.

River assured Clara. "Sonic tech doesn't work on wood."

"I won't go." Clara was firm. "I won't." She folded her arms tighter.

The Doctor took a moment to take in what Clara was saying and then shook his head at her. "No, no, you're right. Go get Amy and Daphne." He lowered his head. "New plan."

Clara's smile grew ten-fold and she ran down the cellar stairs calling Amy and Daphne's names.

The Doctor nodded his head at Rory who nodded back. Rory then walked into the cellar and closed the door behind him. River and The Doctor heard the door lock behind.

"This must be early days for her to fall for that old trick," River commented while looking at her computer link.

"Yes, very. That one was way too easy."

"She's going to try to kill you when she gets out of there."

"Better me than her. Now, come on." The Doctor motioned for River to follow him and they sped up their gait towards the front door .

"I'll call the Tardis." The Doctor spoke as fast as he ran down the brownstone steps

"You really think the anomalies are from more than just Daphne?" River put her computer link away with one hand and pulled out her gun.

"You know the Tardis, River, better than anyone, if it were  _that_ simple wouldn't she or I- Or you- have been able to figure out the calculations." He sounded like a harried father. "And I'll guess from the look on your face the readings haven't changed, have they?"

"No. They haven't."

They cleared the last step and hit the pavement, as the Doctor reached for his Tardis key, but River put her hand on his arm to stop him.

"Hold on." River motioned to the Doctor at a woman about Amy and Rory's age, in a pink terrycloth robe, running towards them. River put her gun in the back of her belt to hide it from view.

"I need help! Can you help me!? Please!" shrieked the woman.

"What's wrong?" The Doctor questioned.

"You must be the William's family from out of town?"

"Yes, yes we are," River smiled. "And we're -"

"In a little bit of a hurry, actually…" The Doctor's voice was agitated.

"Oh, and you have those cute little accents like they do."

River and the Doctor looked at each other oddly as they didn't sound anything like Amy and Rory at all.

"This woman ran into our house, I think she was trying to rob us, I don't know. I can't find my husband, Joe anywhere."

"This woman, can you describe her?" River was now intrigued.

"Red lips, dark hair, dark suit. She ran into the backyard and I hit her with a shovel. Oh, dear! I didn't mean to, she just scared me so. The things I see on the news. Will you come and help? Should I call the police?"

"No, no, don't bother." The Doctor showed her his psychic paper with a quick flash. "John Smith, I happen to work at Scotland Yard, back home, and I'm here working in tandem with the Brooklyn police department. On what, I can't say. Very hush, hush and all that."

The woman was very impressed.

"My wife and partner in crime... fighting. River Song…" He pointed to River, as quickly as he said her name, and then took a short pause before stating his next direction forcefully. "Now... take us to your...  _backyard_."

It was dark in the cellar, except for a small light from above, and the only sound was from a small drip of water from the previous day's rain storm, echoing through what felt like an underground bunker.

Clara rubbed her shoulders for warmth.

"Are you cold?" Rory asked.

"Just a bit."

Rory walked over to Clara. "It can be very drafty down here." Rory took off his sweater/jacket and gave it to Clara.

"Oh, no, I don't…" But once Rory had placed his sweater on Clara's shoulders she couldn't say no to the warmth it gave her. "Thank you," she said almost sheepishly.

Rory sat down on a cardboard box next to his wife who had Daphne's head on her lap.

"You've both been so nice to me," Clara told Amy and Rory.

"Of course." Amy answered. "You travel with the Doctor – we have a common sisterhood."

"That's what I said." Clara loved that she was on the same page with Amy, if only to prove the Doctor wrong – after all she was very cross with him at the moment.

"What I am? Toast?" Rory joked.

Amy put her arm around her husband's neck. "The Tardis travelers support group will now meet in conjunction with the by-laws… that I just made up." She laughed and Clara and Rory joined in.

Then Amy got a serious look on her face and stroked Daphne's hair lovingly with her hand. "You travel with him. My family and I owe you a great deal of gratitude." Amy looked up at Clara. "He shouldn't travel alone. Just remember that. He needs to have someone by his side. Especially now that…" Amy got a little choked up and Rory was perplexed by it. "Well, we're just glad it's you."

Daphne opened her eyes.

"Look who's awake." Amy said sweetly and brushed Daphne's hair away from face. She looked a little frightened. Amy and Clara shared a look for they saw the girl's uneasiness.

"Daph," Clara got her attention. "Why don't you tell us about the book you're reading now?" She looked at Amy and Rory. "Daphne's reading about  _The Druids_." She looked back at Daphne. "What about The Druid made you fancy a read?"

Daphne yawned and didn't lift her head off Amy's lap. "Julius Caesar said they believed, "That souls do not perish, but after death pass from one to another." She closed her eyes.

Amy teared up for a moment and Clara thought of her own mother.

"I do love a good Roman." Amy joked a little, so she wouldn't burst out crying. Amy leaned in to Daphne's ear. "I hope that's true, Sweetie," she kissed Daphne's head. "I really, really hope that's true." She looked at Rory.

"Yeah, well…" Rory spoke up. "Let's hope it just doesn't happen tonight," he remarked in a stern tone, not understanding the gravity of Daphne's comment.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The sudden noise caused Amy, Rory and Clara to almost jump out of their seats.

Rory stood and Daphne lifted her head off Amy's lap. They all looked a bit terrified.

"Rory! Amy!" Came the voice, a voice Amy and Rory knew well.

"Joe?" Amy asked as the banging and yelling continued.

"Joe!?" Rory called.

"You have to help me, it's after me, it's after me!"

Daphne lifted her head completely off Amy's lap and Rory rushed up the stairs toward Joe and his banging.

  
  



	10. Chapter 10

 

 

 

**CHAPTER 10**

River and The Doctor walked quickly into the Betherstons backyard, exiting through the open sliding glass doors that led out from the home's family den. River pulled her gun out and Gladys looked at it oddly.

The Doctor noticed and interceded quickly. "New issue from Her Majesty's secret service. Very, hush, hush." He pulled out his screwdriver and opened it. "Very James Bond..." he said, referencing his screwdriver.

The woman, they now knew as Gladys, nodded her head awkwardly and hugged her robe closed.

"Where did you get that?" River inquired with surprise.

"After the Pandorica I try to carry a spare."

"She's in the bushes…" Gladys pointed towards a row of bushes, more like a hedge, at the back of the yard in front of a large brown fence.

River and the Doctor slowly made their way through the yard, he checking with his sonic, she holding firm with her gun. Two steps behind River, The Doctor almost tripped over a garden gnome statue and then tried to recover as if it had never happened. He pushed his hair back, away from his face and resumed looking for readings with his sonic, praying River hadn't seen what had just transpired.

Having recovered, a thought came to The Doctors mind. "River? I keep meaning to ask you….wherever did you ever get the Arnickleton from?

"To make the locket? Where else. I killed a cyberman for it," she said, as if it was as easy as taking out the trash.

"You killed a Cyberman… " The Doctor leaned In and whispered, " _While pregnant?"_

"More like ten. They do come in packs." River took out her hand link and checked some readings.

As they got closer to the fence, River looked up and noticed a red and purple electrical spot in the sky.

"Doctor, look…" She got his attention and they both focused up at the purple, blue and now red light above them.

"That can't be." He squinted at it.

"It's a burn hole... could we have caused that on our way in?" She seemed perplexed by her own conclusion. "We would have seen it already, wouldn't we?" She busied herself back with her computer.

"Impossible." The Doctor pointed his screwdriver toward the sky.

"It must be why I can't seem to get any life form readings at all. Interference?" She remarked regarding her hand link. "Not even ours are showing up. Everything else is working perfectly." She checked her Vortex manipulator on the wrist. "...no life signs on the manipulator, either. How 'bout you?"

The Doctor checked his sonic. "Same." He looked back at the burn hole. "You're right, if we created this burn hole or signature, it would have happened immediately after the Tardis broke through. It wouldn't be an after effect. This has to be from something new."

"Kovarian? Maybe she wasn't left behind here after all."

The Doctor turned toward the hedge. "Best way to find out…" He started to dig around as River stared up at the hole in the sky with suspicion – Something wasn't right. She focused back on her hand-link.

Clara, Daphne and Amy heard the door creak open followed by sound of Joe's feet racing down the stairs. The next sounds were Rory locking the door shut behind him in tandem with Joe's frantic footsteps towards the bottom of the stairs. Joe finally appeared at the end of the staircase and Clara went white with a shudder. She felt a terrible uneasiness at the pit of her stomach and Clara took a fearful step back, while Amy took a step forward.

"Joe, what happened?" Amy inquired with concern for her friend.

Joe was still frenetic with fear. "Amy... Amy I don't know what it is. A thing… from outta space, like something out of one of Bobby's comic books. It chased me all the way here; I didn't know where to go." He took a staggering step in Clara's direction.

"Stay there, stay away." Clara directed him forcefully. "Don't trust him." She put her hand up in defense causing Rory's jacket to fall off her shoulders.

Amy looked at Clara confused. "Clara, this is Joe, it's alright - he's been our neighbor for years. His son Bobby grew up with our son Anthony."

Clara wasn't convinced and she made a mad dash to Rory and snatched the sonic from his hands.

"Hey!" Rory shouted in surprise.

Clara positioned the screwdriver towards Joe in a determined attack mode.

"Listen, little girl." Joe put his hands up.

"Don't call me little girl." Clara answered and blew a few strands of hair off her face with a puff of air.

Joe put his hands up. "Amy and Rory are right; I'm one of the good guys."

"Clara…" Rory put his hands up and then towards Clara. "It's alright. Just calm down and hand the sonic back over. You're just spooked. It's alright." He put his hand out and slowly took two steps toward Clara.

"I can't explain, just something… something's wrong." Her hands shook a bit, but then she regained her focus and the shaking stopped.

Joe was starting to sweat. "What is that?" He turned to Amy and Rory. "Can that even hurt me?" He turned to Clara. "Listen, little girl," his tone wasn't as nice this time.

"Stay back!" Clara put herself in front of Amy and Rory. "Daphne, go with Amy." She motioned with her head and Daphne ran to Amy and hugged her waist.

Joe pleaded with her. "I ran here as fast as I could, but it was too quick for me. And it will be too quick for you, too. Maybe if I took more walks around the yard like Gladys told me too…" He took a handkerchief out from his robe pocket and dried his moist temple. He then folded it into four squares and carefully put it back in his pocket. "….It wouldn't have killed me."

"Killed you?" Rory wasn't sure he had heard that right.

And that was when the Dalek eye stalk began to emerge from Joe's head and everyone in the basement, except for Joe, screamed in terror.

"Them too!? Brilliant!" Rory roared. "What are we going for here, the Doctor's greatest hits?" He put his body in front of the Amy and Daphne.

Amy's face was stern and she took Daphne's hand. She spoke softly to Daphne without looking at the girl, giving her laser focus in the puppet's direction. "Now, Daphne. You're going to have be very, very brave. Like all the Pond women who came before you." Daphne nodded her head. "Good girl." Amy held tighter to Daphne's hand.

"You're sonic equipment will not hurt me." Joe teased in a very robotic way, yet still sounding like Joe.

"It's human; it's Dalek. A Dalek puppet," Clara said to herself. "Why do I know this?" she continued speaking to herself. "I remember…" she said more confidently and positioning her eyes fully on Joe, who was now slowly walking towards her. "Oh, you think you're clever, eh? Force field, huh? Nice addition…" She played with a few buttons on the sonic. "See, you may think you're clever, but I'm more." She raised her eyebrow. "You know why?" She smirked and set the sonic straight out at the puppet's eye stalk. "Because, I used to be you."

The Doctor dug his hands every which way into the hedge, but came up empty handed. "There's nothing – there's nothing here…" he shouted in his turbulent state and turned back towards River and Mrs. Bethersonton

"Oh…" River quipped, her gun ready and aimed straight in front of her. "There's something here."

The Doctor and River were now face-to- face with Gladys Bethersonton and a Dalek eye stalk breaking through the center of her forehead.

"Oh, dear, Yes, well, I think we found out the cause of that burn hole." The Doctor cracked. "Interesting…."

"Doctor, Doctor, Doctor." Gladys said manically. "Our records indicate you would not and could not turn down a life form in need."

"So, you remember me now, eh?" The Doctor commented. "I suppose I should have figured I'd start a new file at some point."

River readied her gun.

"River, no –" The Doctor put his hand out to her.

"It has a force field." River let him know she wasn't going to do anything.

"Still, she could still be alive inside there." He directed his attention to the Dalek Puppet.

"Why are you here? what do you want?"

"Negative. Human brain indicates giving away our reason for being here will only compromise our mission."

" _Our_  mission?" The Doctor asked.

"Affirmative."

" _Are_  your friends here with you?"

"An advanced team was sent down first. More ships are coming – trying to get through."

"Doctor..." River motioned at the sky above, the hole was getting bigger.

The Doctor nodded his head at River that he saw it; his face was filled with grave concern.

"Gladys!" The Doctor shouted at her with great volume and passion. "If you're in there, you  _need_  to fight it. You _need_  to remember who you are – your children and grandchildren I saw in those pictures on the mantel when we came in." He slowly walked closer to her. "Your husband. Your house –  _any_ thing and  _everything_  that you  _hold dear._ " He was even closer to the puppet now. "Think of your family, Gladys!" Suddenly, Glady's eyes looked human again and her face appeared frightened. "Where am I?"

The Doctor's face was full of joy and that was when River shot a blaster stream hitting Gladys right in the chest. No longer having a Dalak force field to protect her, Gladys fell backwards to the ground.

"River! Please, tell me that was a stun-setting!?" He was aghast.

"Yesss, Sweetie." River walked over to Gladys and checked her pulse with her fingers. "Look at that, it worked." She looked up at The Doctor. "Never used the stun setting before."

"Never used it before!?" The Doctor wasn't happy.

"There's a first time for everything." She smirked and stood up. "Never had a need until now."

The Doctor went back to business. "We should tie her up before she regains consciousness – who knows  _whom_  she'll wake up as..." River and The Doctor each took an arm and dragged Gladys over to an indoor porch.

"That burn hole can't be big enough to be caused by an entire ship for sure," River commended.

"Yes, but it appears it will be soon. Thanks to our little messenger here." The Doctor seemed to be straining as they were just about to reach the porch. "Blimey, she's heavy. Does she look that heavy?"

"You need to work out more," River scolded him as they both let go of Gladys having reached the porch.

"I work out," he said, very offended.

"I mean more than _running_." River stood. "Put her arms around the pillar for me." She gestured to a large wooden leg of the porch.

The Doctor did what he was told. River then took her handcuffs out and handcuffed Gladys to the porch leg.

"Seriously, what is with the handcuffs?" The Doctor gestured with his hands.

"Spoilers." She sure loved saying that word in certain contexts. River stood, took out her hand link, and began to fiddle with it with furry. "I'm getting vital signs again; she must have been blocking life sign signals to keep us in the backyard. She's alive in there for sure... for now at least."

The Doctor was more focused on the ribbing River had given him before. "That's the second time this trip you've made a comment about how fit I am–" The Doctor wasn't happy as he dusted off the dirt that had collected on his hands.

"I suppose there isn't a chance this one came alone?" River said sarcastically, referring to the Dalek tech inside of Gladys.

"Who goes on a mission without a partner?" The Doctor answered almost like a reflex.

River and the Doctor each had a grave look on their face. "The house!" They spoke in unison and they both ran off like a bolt of lighting.

**Please review, it helps the writer. :)**

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Please review, it helps the writer. Last two chapters, sorry for the delay.**

 

**CHAPTER 11**

River and The Doctor bolted down the stairs of the cellar in a hurried panic. Once they reached the landing at the bottom they found Amy, Rory and Daphne hugging each other, with a very confident Clara standing over Joe's body, the sonic still in her hand and pointed at his lifeless body.

"They turned our neighbor Joe into one of those... Dalek things." Amy pointed toward Joe.

The Doctor knelt down to check Joe's vital signs with his sonic while River made sure her family was alright.

"You find crazy lipstick lady yet?" Clara inquired a little too cocky.

"You know, your monikers are _extremely_  cursory. And no we haven't," The Doctor grumbled and waved his sonic over Joe.

River continued for him. "But we found a burn hole – Dalek ships trying to get into this time."

"Cursory!? How so?" Clara shifted her weight in The Doctor's direction. "She's _crazy_  and that lipstick is red-er than my aunt Linda's when she goes to the local on Sundays. Crazy _. Lipstick_  lady." She put her hand on her hip.

The Doctor lifted up his sonic and checked his readings. "He's alive. But..." He looked at everyone else. "There's no trace of the Dalek inside of him... "

River approached and concurred with her hand link. "I'm not getting any traces of mirco-organisms, even in the air."

The Doctor was quite perplexed. "What happened to the Dalek?" He put his sonic back in his inside jacket pocket

Clara smirked. "It died."

The Doctor walked up to Clara as it was now obvious that she had been up to something. "What did you do?" he asked with his most inquisitive and concerned face.

"I remembered." She handed The Doctor back the sonic in her hand. "I used their own tech against them. Destroyed them from the inside." She was pretty proud of herself.

"Literally." He took the sonic from Clara's hand and flipped in the air and then caught it. The Doctor looked on her with delight. "Well, Clara Oswald you have finally served a purpose this go 'round." He teased her, but he was really very proud. "No more tag along on this trip, are we?!" He grinned large at her.

"Doctor..." River scolded his wrong choice of words.

"Oi!" Amy defended her friend. "Are you saying woman in general don't serve a purpose?"

"Everyone serves a purpose in this world, Amy, in the entire universe...everyone is important... and when they serve a purpose for me, well...all the better! " He turned to Clara again. "And you did brilliant. Just brilliantly!" He kissed Clara huge on the head. "Ohhhhh, you..." He rustled her hair.

"Watch the hair..." She put her hand up to her hair and set it right. "Are we not going to talk about the fact that you lied to me and locked me in a cellar?" Clara wouldn't have it.

"Couldn't avoid it. Had to happen. For your own good," The Doctor said quickly. He then addressed the whole group. "Okay, right, so bit of change of plans now. Amy, Rory, Daphne  _stay_ down here again."

Amy and Rory groaned. River was busy running scans on her computer.

"I wouldn't call that a change of plans," Rory pointed out.

Amy folded her arms. "I feel like the Rory this adventure 'round."

"Hey!" He took offense. "I'm right here!"

Amy jokingly hit him in the side and then kissed him on the lips. She turned to the Doctor who was taking a look at what Clara had done to his sonic. "You know I don't miss this. Saving the world. Not one bit. Is that strange?" She laughed at herself. "I do wish I had packed a book in that hurricane kit you made us put down here... " She poked Rory in the ribs. "...Mr Pond.""

The Doctor closed his screwdriver and looked up. "Like I said before, we need to secure this timeline as much as possible, and I want you alive to live it. So you need to stay here. And you don't need books, you have your stories."

"He knows all my stories..." Amy pointed at Rory who nodded his head in agreement.

"Daphne doesn't." The Doctor smiled and then addressed the group, gesturing wildly. "So, quick recap. Daleks. Check. That's bad. Big burn hole in the sky getting bigger every minute." River nodded at the Doctor while looking at her computer screen. "– could burn New York or the earth depending on how many ships they have. Also bad. And at a quarter past, young River arrives from the future." He took a breath. "So…I'd say it's time for us to…" He paused for a moment for what felt like effect. "Stand and  _deliver_." He bobbed his head and gestured with his hands.

The entire group groaned. It was not the reaction The Doctor has expected.

"What? No. That was a good one." He frowned.

Amy folded her arms and looked at Doctor. "You picked  _this_ … of all times to use  _that_  one?"

Clara also folded her arms and looked at the Doctor. "How long you think he's been sitting on  _that one_  in his head, eh?"

Clara and Amy shared a look.

"Okay. Stop that." He pointed at both of them. "What are you doing? THAT… _that_  is properly creepy. Stop that now."

"Doctor…" River pointed at her watch. "The time."

He looked at River who had now replaced her computer with her gun again. "Right." He looked at Amy and Rory. " Amy –Rory, take care of Daphne and Joe. Joe may be a little groggy when he wakes up. If he's looking for his wife you can tell him he can find her handcuffed in the flower bed – long story." He motioned to River. "River, with me, I'll need you again for muscle."

"With pleasure, Sweetie." She twirled her gun and put it back in its holster.

"Clara, the brilliant and the wise – my impossible girl, I need you in the Tardis to do whatever it was you did with this sonic." He gestured with the sonic in his hand and then tossed it to Rory who caught it. "...Into my entire dash and tech. We have the planet to save."

~

River and Clara ran out of the basement door first, followed by The Doctor.

"Wait!" The Doctor yelled out and River and Clara, a few paces ahead, stopped and doubled back.

"What are you doing?!" River shouted as she turned to see why he was waylaying them. "Time." She pointed at her watch.

The Doctor closed the door behind him and then took what looked like a combination lock the size of a large peach from his pocket and attached it to the cellar door knob.

"A proximity sensor?" River spoke as if reprimanding him for wasting time. " Whatever do you need that for, a sonic could disable that in moments. Let alone Dalek tech."

"Its not for Kovarian. Or the Daleks" The Doctor zapped the lock closed with his sonic and the sensor appeared to disappear from sight.

"What does it do?" Clara asked, but before River could answer, the Doctor answered for her.

"It will detect any life form that approaches the house." The Doctor put his sonic away. He then looked at his wife and spoke quickly. "Now, River, what I'm about to tell you, I need you to focus on the fact that I am telling you _now_  and that we both agree  _we are_  running out of time. " He took a breath, "Clara and I ran into the Silence. In 2013. At Anthony's. When we picked up Daphne," he said very practically and waited for River's response.

"We did?" Clara was confused.

River was not happy. " Ohhhhh, you  _are_  lucky we are  _all_  in danger and I don't have the time to be cross with you." She huffed, "What did you do?"

"What did I do?! Nothing! They were looking for Daphne and the map."

"Eh, is anyone going to fill me in here?" Clara asked, but it was like she hadn't been heard.

River and The Doctor started for the door again with Clara trying to catch up behind them.

"You had to do  _something_!" River continued. " They would never  _dream_ on coming back to earth after what you did back in 1969? Too big a risk."

"Eh, this is 1969?" Clara asked in a confusion.

"Unless the  _need_  outweighed their own personal risk. Think about it, River." He stopped at the door to the brownstone and threw his hands out at her.

River stopped too, almost causing Clara to bump into River from behind.. "You think the Silence are on the other side of that burn hole, don't you?"

"Don't know. Hate not knowing. But they'd have to know we're here."

"Kovarian getting back in their good graces, perhaps. " She took a breath. "Yes. Right then. Tardis?" River said pragmatically.

"Tardis." The Doctor answered. He then nodded his head at River and then at Clara to follow them.

River and The Doctor made a fast pace towards the door.

~

Clara made an exasperated face and dashed after them.

Clara, River and The Doctor ran out of the Brownstone as The Tardis came flying towards them.

Clara was confused. "I thought you left to  _retrieve_ the Tardis on the first go ?"

The Tardis landed in front of them.

"We got waylaid by a Dalek in human clothing." The Doctor snapped and the doors opened.

Clara, River and The Doctor ran into the Tardis. River and The Doctor took their position at the console and instantly began to pilot her, while Clara stood back not knowing what to do.

The Doctor directed her. "Clara take the control to my right and do whatever you did with my sonic – the Tardis will take care of the rest." The Doctor placed his spare sonic into a casing near the middle of the console to be formatted.

Clara smiled and did what she was told. She was excited to be able to work at the console as an equal to River and The Doctor. River smiled at her and she smiled back. The Doctor couldn't be happier to work with his wife and one of his best friends.

The Doctor continued with his tasks. "I think I can hone in on Kovorkian's sonic to track her. If it is indeed mine, each sonic admits its own signature."

"You really think she pried it from your cold, dead, hands, eh?" Clara asked, breaking The Doctor's good mood. The Doctor gave her a terrible look back.

"Sorry." Clara watched the Doctor get back to work and she did the same.

"So far no signs of The Silence…" River updated her readings to the group.

"No one is going to tell me who these people are? And why I don't remember meeting them?" Clara asked

The Doctor spoke quickly while he multitasked. "Short version. Aliens. Make you forget them if you're not looking at them."

"You both remember them."

River spoke up while The Doctor was preoccupied with the console. "Long story - but it took a bit of work on our parts."

"I think…" The Doctor dashed around to one of the view screens.

"Yes, I see it…" River nodded her head and moved a few buttons and levers. "Changing our location."

"Noooo….. noooo. nooo!" The Doctor all of a sudden got agitated. He backed away from the screen.

"What is it?" River yelled at him with concern.

"What now?" Clara asked.

"It can't be…" The Doctor stepped backwards.

"What are you blabbering about?" River walked over to The Doctor quickly and Clara did the same.

Clara saw it first: millions of little blue blips on the screen. "What is that?"

River looked on in shock. "They've all come." Her face looked as if she couldn't believe she could have been was so dense to have not sorted it out before. "But of course..."

The Doctor finished River's sentence as if Clara wasn't even there. "Millions of them. Every race in the known universe - all trying to get into 1969 New York!"

River's jaw almost dropped. "So imperceptible the Tardis couldn't even figure it out. The real source of the anomalies." She saw the litany of names scrolling down her screen. "Daleks, Sontarans, Terileptils, Slitheen, Cyberman -" her list was interrupted by Clara.

"I still don't understand how  _that_  is re-writing time?"

"It's not." The Doctor looked at Clara. "They've grown impatient. So they're  _inducing_  history." He paused. "Now." It was all making sense now to The Doctor, all of it.

River looked spent. "Daphne… The Silence - they were both red herrings."

The Doctor ran his hand over his head. "They can't do  _this!_  They will burn it from the outside in! Don't they know THAT! That many ships, that many engines phasing, they will  _shatter_  the universe, let alone the planet!"

Clara looked terrified.

River's face grew further worried as she gazed back at the view screen in front of her. "The burn hole, it's even bigger now… and growing... faster..." She looked at the Doctor. "Doctor…. Doctor?" He didn't answer in his agitated state. "Doctor, do you hear me?"

"Doctor?" Clara questioned to him like a wounded lamb. She opened her mouth to speak again.

"Doctor!?" Suddenly, another harried voice was heard, it was coming from the console itself – it was Jack Harkness.

This did not lighten River and The Doctor's mood. River stopped what she was doing and watched as The Doctor took out what looked like an old style trucker ham radio microphone from under the console. He and River both had the look of worried parents.

"Captain Jack, this is The Doctor, over and out, I'm in a bit of a pickle at the moment, is something the matter?"

There was some static and then Jack spoke. "They attacked without warning; I don't know how long I can keep them at bay." The sound of children screaming was heard and then the transmission went dead.

"Jack! Who?" The Doctor yelled. "JACKKKK!" But he was gone.

"He's gone." River said soft and harried. "I can't get him back..." She was working her magic on the dash, but nothing was happening. River like lighting snatched her vortex manipulator off her wrist and connected it to the console. "I'll do a relay through the manipulator, like Jack did." But her face fell. "It's not working." She stepped back. "The ships are creating too much static blockage for the signal to get through." River appeared to try a different tactic and took hold of another part of the console, but after a moment the look on her face made it clear that had failed too. "I can't even get you a communication link to the ships..." she hit a few more buttons. "They've closed all their communication channels." She was confused.

"Because they're not here to listen," The Doctor said in a morose tone and leaned against the rail guard between Clara and River. The Doctor looked down at his feet in a silent rage.

"I don't even understand how they are able to get through? The ships, I mean," Clara asked.

The Doctor looked at Clara. "Because they have access to the one DNA strand that is scattered over almost every known part and particle of the universe."

"Oh my god…" River got where he was going, but Clara was a still lost.

"Who?" Clara wanted to know the answer.

The Doctor looked at Clara deeply. "Mine." His face and voice grew further grim. "Irony at its best," he said in deep despair. "I am  _literally_ and _figuratively_  the cause of their presence." The Doctor's face made it look like he might be sick for a moment, but it was just his own disgust with himself.

"Then leave!" Clara demanded.

The Doctor seemed to not even hear her.

"It's too late," River answered calmly. "They've already started; he'd never get out in time."

"I was wrong Clara. " He looked at her before speaking again. "You're not the dead cat. I am." His tone was dark.

River was lost to the reference, but then she was more worried about The Doctor's state than what he was saying.

"I don't understand." Clara directed her question to The Doctor and River. "How could they have done a scan that fast?!" Clara was frightened and confused. "You said- "

"They KNOW where I am!" he barked at her. The Doctor slammed his hand on the console and then hit the center of it with his other fist. He then screamed with frustration, "ahhhhhhgggugggggg!" It made Clara jump.

"Don't panic…." River assured him. "You always come up with a plan, we can stop them. Just take a breath, calm down. Talk to me." He didn't seem to be listening to her. "You can stop this from happening. Calm down!"

"Plans, plans… my universe for a plan…" The Doctor roared.

River approached him and slapped The Doctor clean across the face, causing him to sprout up and pay attention. "Don't go soft on me now." She took hold of his shoulders. "We need you now. Rory and Amy and Clara and Daphne and me… and Susan." River saw she had stopped The Doctor cold in his tracks. She let go of him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, now is not the time to be sentimental. Now is the time for plans and saving the day, you mad, genius boy. Like you always do. Brilliantly."

The Doctor raged on. "What am I supposed to do, River!? In about ten minutes all those ships will break into this time and burn it to its core -" He pointed at the monitor. "… and if that wasn't enough everything and everyone I care about is in  _danger._  ALL because of me. Maybe I'm not the solution, maybe  _I am_  the problem. Maybe I'm the trouble." He gestured hard towards himself. "How can I change that from happening, River, when I'm the cause?!" He was at his zenith of anger now. "You humans, you humans…. You always reply on me farrrrrr too much!" he seemed to say to no one in particular and left River's side with a great deal of speed.

River looked on like a wife who knew all her husband's ticks. "Oh, here it comes, he always insults other species when he's stressed," she said as an aside to Clara.

Clara was startled, not knowing what to say, as if she was watching her parents in an argument.

The Doctor spun around and faced River directly. "Ohhh and River Song, you rely on me most of all. Out of all of them! Why don't  _you_  come up with a plan for a change!?"

"Oh, really? We're going to do this now? Now? When the earth and the entire universe is burning and our family -" She pointed towards the door as The Doctor interrupted her.

"Seems a good enough time as any, eh?" he shouted sarcastically. "I have  _the_  time!"

"Alright." River approached him in a furry until they were face to face. "Let's do this. I did come up with a plan. A very good plan in fact. It was a  _brilliant_  plan. You said so yourself. But you had to come looking – you couldn't have just let it be. You couldn't have left well enough alone -"

Clara was becoming more and more anxious about the time they were wasting.

River continued talking. "I don't come up with plans? I think somebody's been spending too much time with my younger self. I rely on you just as much as you rely on me - we rely on each other - because... that is what a partnership is. That's marriage. But when it comes to the universe, I'm sorry to say, my Love, you have the most experience in this area. I'd venture to say the end of the world is your purview, is it not? But,  _nooo_ , let's just chalk it up to you being everyone's be and end all."

Clara couldn't take it anymore. "Are you two really using this time to have a domestic row?

They both turned and shouted at Clara at the same time. "Yes!"

River continued the fight while the Doctor seethed in silence, at times not even being able to look River in the eye. "You are my husband and the center of my universe, but if you haven't noticed I have my own independent life without you and nine out of eleven times I've been the one to save you, just as many times as you've saved me – spoiler there for you on that one. In fact, several times you wouldn't even be here, if not for me, I just don't take curtain calls. I'm no longer the girl who waited, I'm not my mother. Haven't been for ages now. But I'm relying on you now, dear heart. I'm looking at you and your superior knowledge and experience. So hunker down and THINK of something instead of throwing your frustrations out on other people and acting like a child! For god's sake stop  _embarrassing_ me!"

The Doctor spoke from the deepest point in his voice. "The only thing I can come up with is that I need to find a way to stop all of this from happening, before it ever happened in the first place, without creating a paradox!"

"Well, that's a start…" River encouraged him as if it was a breakthrough. After all, an argument was the best tactic River knew to encourage him to act.

"I don't have the slightest idea of a  _way_  to do that!" He threw out his arms towards her.

"You will!" River said with a great deal of reassurance and excitement.

"There are so many fixed points along this time line, River, it's like a minefield."

"Then scroll it  _further_  back!" She smiled.

The Doctor's face grimaced at her. Suddenly, there was blue blip on one of the view screens.

"Well, look at that," River exclaimed and ran back to one of the monitors.

"Kovarian." The Doctor approached the other screen with intent.

"Isn't that you?" Clara asked approaching the other screen between her and The Doctor.

"No, Kovarian's blue; I'm red. Sonic signatures are blue; DNA red. And that swarm of green are ships." She pushed her screen out of her view of the Doctor. "Look at me." River made The Doctor take her eyes onto view. "Are we good?" He didn't answer or look at her; he was focused on the screen near him. "Are we good?"

Clara noticed the Doctor's screen was now tilted away from her view as she approached closer to The Doctor.

The Doctor looked at River. "Yes." He took a small pause. "We're very good." The Doctor was strong.

"Good." River looked back at her own screen. "We have a sonic lock. You think of a plan; I'll get Kovarian, she may have the answers we're looking for."

Clara was now in clear view of the screen again, closest to the Doctor. The screen blipped again not once, but twice - two blips, one red blip and one blue – two people. Clara noticed, but had the Doctor, she wondered, and what did it mean?

The Doctor called to River. "Here..."

River turned her head and The Doctor took his screwdriver from the console and tossed it to her. "For protection." He walked up to her and took her face in his hands, kissed her fast and then released her, his fingers trailed through her hair as he pulled away.

River nodded her head, smiled and opened the Tardis door. She looked at Clara, "Take care of him, while I'm gone." She smiled at The Doctor again and then she was gone.

The Doctor lowered his head in despair. Clara watched him, wondering what he would do next. The dots blipped again and The Doctor took the screen into his gaze as if he had always noticed them. He then seemed to have resolved himself to something. He stood up straight, fixed his bow tie and manned the controls.

"Doctor?" Clara questioned.

The Tardis started to shake as if they were starting to dematerialize into Time or Space.

"Doctor? What are you doing?" Clara asked with concern as the Tardis started off again.

He didn't look at Clara, but she knew he was speaking to her. "I'm keeping my broken promise."

Outside, River heard the sound of The Tardis breaks, making her turn and see the Tardis begin to dissolve from her view.

"Noooo! No. " River knew what he was thinking now. She may have been one step behind him, but eventually she always knew. It should have been a clue to her, a big red flag, when he gave her his screwdriver and kissed her before battle. That wasn't him, yet knowing what he was up to now - it was all him. River shouted and ran towards the Tardis just in time to reach the door and bang on it as loud as she could.

"Doctor!" He heard River scream for him outside the Tardis; her yells in tandem with the sound of her fists banging on the doors. He imagined her palms were turning red.

The Doctor took a moment, his hand in mid pull of the final motion; he lowered his head trying not to let River's cries affect him.

"Doctor!" She banged louder. "Don't you dare, don't you dare…" she pleaded. The Doctor clicked a button and River appeared on his monitor from outside the Tardis. "Don't do this! You crazy, fool! You have no right! You can find another way. There's always another way!" She banged again, even louder than before, shouting his name over and over again. She was almost shrieking now, tears in her eyes. "Who do you think taught me that!"

Clara looked on frozen, her eyes filled with tears and emotion, but she kept the water from failing to her checks. She didn't know what to say or do.

The Doctor touched his fingers across River's face on the screen; still banging, still calling his name. He then softly and lovingly spoke to her, but of course she could not hear him. "I will never forget one line of you, Melody Pond. Not one line." A tear fell from his cheek. "My River Song."

Then he made the last motion towards flight, causing Clara and The Doctor to spirit off in the Tardis at full speed.

The Tardis appeared in front of eight year old Melody Pond. She knew the phone box from her studies, but she wasn't fearful, she almost felt happy, she felt saved.

 

**12th November, 1969**

"RORY!" Amelia Williams ran into the house cradling her eight year old crying daughter Melody, both their faces streaming with tears. "I found her," she cried. "I found her this time."

Rory in shock, tears now running down his own face, ran to his wife and hugged both his girls. They clung tight, but Rory lifted his head and looked into his wife's eyes. "What does this mean? Why isn't - I mean, why isn't time changing around us. Shouldn't this cause a paradox?"

"I don't know?" Amy questioned. "I don't know, " she cried with delight.

"If Melody is with us, doesn't that mean she won't grow up to be River - that we don't - I mean how is this all possible?"

They both heard the sounds of the Tardis outside.

Amy sprouted up like a shot and was out the door.

She couldn't see the Tardis, but there was a heavy wind and Amy knew The Doctor was there.

"Thank you, Raggedy man. Thank you!" Amy sobbed, as her hair blew behind her, looking up at where she knew the Tardis must be hovering. Her hair blew backwards and away from her face.

_And now the purple dusk of twilight time_

_Steals across the meadows of my heart_

_High up in the sky the little stars climb_

_Always reminding me that we're apart_

Rory appeared behind Amy, holding Melody to his chest, he was now crying himself. Within moments the sound of The Tardis and the wind were gone. Amy turned and took hold of Rory and their daughter.

"If she won't be River, who will she be?" Rory asked, concerned for the future.

"She'll be amazing." And Amy kissed her daughter's head. The Williams Family hugged each other for dear life.

_You wander down the lane and far away_

_Leaving me a song that will not die_

_Love is now the stardust of yesterday_

_The music of the years gone by…._

The Doctor stood over the console in silence, his body half hunched. Clara stood, tears running down her face - heartbroken for her friend. The only sound heard was the Tardis in mid fight.

_Sometimes I wonder why I spend_

_The lonely night dreaming of a song_

_The melody haunts my reverie_

_And I am once again with you_

It was then that the Doctor took the forearm of his jacket into focus and a strand of River's hair that was still attached to the cloth.

_When our love was new_

_And each kiss an inspiration_

_But that was long ago_

_Now my consolation_

_Is in the stardust of a song_

He swallowed and lightly and lovingly plucked the hair into his fingertips.

… _The nightingale tells his fairy tale_

_A paradise where roses bloom_

_Though I dream in vain_

_In my heart it will remain_

He stared at the hair between his fingers, crestfallen, with tears in his eyes. And then he let it slowly drift and float to the floor.

_My stardust melody_

_The memory of love's…_ _refrains_

_**~Stardust** _

**By Hoggy Carmichael.**

  
  



	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

**Chiswick, 2013**

The Doctor dropped off Clara on the outskirts of Chiswick and made sure the Tardis was invisible. There was a silence as he walked her to her front door, over a bridge and finally through a far off dirt path with lovely green patches. They passed a few homes every few kilometers as with each step they inched closer to the more populated areas of the town.

He could have easily parked the Tardis directly at her front door, but he felt like the walk and Clara knew he needed it.

Clara finally broke the silence. "So, now what?"

"Travel a bit." He looked at her and then straight ahead. "Some time alone. Just a bit."

"You did a good thing," she assured him. "Amy and Rory got to have their daughter back. You saved everyone. The Ponds, The Williams… The Universe."

"Comes with the territory, I suppose." But he didn't seem too proud of himself.

"I know it must hurt." She waited briefly for an answer from him, but continued on. "Losing River, Daphne - your chance at finding Gallifrey. "

"Yes, well…" He nodded his head. "It had to be done; I'm sure there will be more chances. It's out there - I'll find it. If it takes all of my lifetimes." He put his hands in his pockets. He looked at Clara. "Still interested in finding out your future? I could take you, if you really want?" It sounded like a sincere question, but it felt more like a test.

"No." She gave an off center smile. "I've decided I'm happy with my future... in the future where it belongs."

"Good-girl." They continued to walk for a stay of time..

"So you think Kovarian was working with all the other ships, if not The Silence?"

"Noooo. Her presence was merely a red herring. No one was working together; they all just had the same goal. Stopping me from finding Gallifrey – and I suppose, in a way, they have."

Then an idea came to Clara. "Now… wait? How did you know… or rather, how are you still even here?" She looked him up and down. "I mean, from what I know about the library River stopped you from saving all those people. The first time. She died in your place. How did time re-write itself? Who replaced River for you? Who died in your place?"

The Doctor's eyes had a light in them again and he gazed at Clara. "You did."

"Me?" She was shocked and it caused her to stop walking.

The Doctor stopped walking as well and faced her. "I may not always remember when and where you crossed my time stream, but I know from every history archive, from every search I rendered, where you were and when. And you were at that library. And like so many times before, you sacrificed yourself for me. You saved all those people." He put his hands on her shoulders. "And me." He paused. "Again."

"You couldn't have known that would happen, for sure?"

"I didn't." He walked for a bit leaving Clara with the knowledge that he was fully aware that rebooting River's time stream and saving the Universe could have cost him his life. He then changed his tone to deep sincerity. "I need to appreciate you more than I have, Clara. I'm sorry for that." He looked at her. "I don't know what came over me."

"No worries. You were under a lot of stress." She gave him an off-center semi-understanding smile.

The Doctor took a key out of his pocket and handed it to Clara. "It's time you had this."

Clara looked at him sideways. "Eh, we've tried this before... She won't let me in without you. She doesn't fancy me."

"I think after what you did – for River and her family. For me. She won't be freezing you out ever again."

Clara grinned huge and took the key with pleasure. They started to walk again and Clara tried to hold in her excitement and appreciation for it wasn't the time, still the Doctor could see it all over her face. They walked without speaking again as Clara ran her fingers over the key with affection.

Suddenly, Clara got a look on face like she was trying to remember something. "Why is it I can remember some of my lives and bits of others and some none at all? Yet you seem to remember everything just fine and perfect?"

"Too much information. Your human brain – no offense -"'

"None taken."

"-Can't hold that much information in it – if would literally explode."

"Eugh." Clara got a disgusted look on her face at that prospect, but it then changed to confusion. "But how can I remember any of it, then? Or how Rory said he could remember Amy killing red lipstick lady in an alternate universe in an..."

"Aborted timeline."

"Yeah."

"Curse of the time traveler. It's both the same principle - two folds - you're aware of the process and so the brain remembers. Mixed in with being exposed to the Time Vortex. Instant memory cocktail. The more you time travel, the more you're exposed to the Time Vortex, whether you're in different souls in my timeline, or like Amy traveling ten years with me in the Tardis, the more one can remember. The good, the bad. The somewhat terrible. For others? The unaware. Those not exposed to the time vortex, well… ever have a dream, so real, so vivid, so real, so tangible you can touch it?" He gestured with his fingers.

"Yeah..." She looked at him now getting it. "Alternate time line?" She loved what she was hearing, but mostly she knew that getting The Doctor to talk about the science of it, letting him act all brilliant, was the best way to cheer him up.

"A half-eaten plate of food on the table, a suitcase you can't remember packing. My brain on the other hand remembers them all. Every change in my time stream. Years and years of my people being exposed to the vortex. Over time. Over generations. I can always remember. Always will. While yours may fade, mine will… linger." The Doctor started to get emotional, but he held it in as much as he could. This caused him to pause on the trail for a moment. "Always." The Doctor started to walk again, leaving Clara with a devastated look on her face, as he strolled ahead of her.

Clara caught up with the Doctor and took hold of his arm, turning him look at her. She was about to burst with tears for him at any moment. The Doctor appreciated her concern, but he would not let her see all that was happening inside of him.

"I know you loved her. " She paused and took hold of his hand. "River."

"I did." He lowered his head and then straightened up. "I always will." He said it like a good soldier talking about a lost comrade.

"And River knew it too. Even if it all happened in an alternate universe far, far away. '

"Sounds like most of my relationships," he tried to joke, but it didn't come out as funny.

He let go of Clara's hand and started to walk again, Clara followed. "And who knows…." He tried to be upbeat. "What other adventures will just float on by…" He gestured forward with his hand.

Just then The Doctor was knocked over by a bicycle. Clara watched him go down like a lead balloon.

The Doctor was mixed in a heap with the person on the bike and what seemed like a wicker basket.

"I'm so sorry," she said and lifted her head to look at the person she had sideswiped to the ground.

"River?!" The Doctor exclaimed, as the woman who faced him was the spitting image of his former alternate universe wife - it was her, her third face in fact, but how?

"Are you alright?" she said, in an English accent with tinges of American in it, as she lifted her bike up from off the stranger. "I lost control over a rock there for a moment, my hair got in my face." She laughed. "Happens more than you would think."

" _River_?" he spouted again.

Clara was in so much shock she couldn't speak.

Melody Pond Williams dusted herself off, set her bike upright and then noticed a rip in her flowered dress. "Blimey! And I just bought this." She tossed her ginger hair off her eyes and looked at The Doctor "Did you just call me… River? Goodness… my father use to call me that. Did you know my father?" She looked at him oddly, "No, I suppose you're too young for that. Sorry about the knock about." She put her hand out to The Doctor to help him up. Still in shock the Doctor took Melody's arm and she helped lift him to his feet. "Melody Williams, " she introduced herself." You're new around here? Do you know my family, perhaps?"

Clara and The Doctor both looked at River with eyes as big as saucers. Melody was more than perplexed by them in the silence.

Finally, Clara spoke up. "Your…. your accent…"

"Oh, yes…" She nodded her head from side to side. "I grew up in America, spent my first twenty years there, actually. My accent can be a bit hazy. Sometimes. Lived here for the last thirty years. Just moved to Cheswick two months ago." She looked at The Doctor strangely. "So, you don't know my family? You do seem familiar, are you sure we haven't met before?" She put her hand on her hip and smiled inquisitively.

"Eh, no… perhaps... in another life," The Doctor retorted with bug eyes.

"Yes, well…" She caught his eyes and The Doctor could tell she felt something, lost in his eyes for a moment, but she quickly shrugged it off. "I best be off. My daughter is waiting for me at home."

"Your daughter?" The Doctor's mouth looked like a cod fish gasping for air.

"Yes..." She looked at Clara. "Oh, yes, I do know  _you._  I mean I've seen you before, but we haven't had the pleasure of meeting. You teach at Coal Hill Road. I teach history over at the Lark School For Girls one town over. We just moved into a new house up on Bath. I interviewed at your school last month." She looked at the Doctor who she now noticed was staring at her even more oddly than before. " Yes... well… okay, then. I best be off…you didn't hit your head did you?" She looked at Clara. "If he hit his head, do tell me." She smiled. And then Melody got back on her blue bike and off she went.

The Doctor and Clara watched Melody ride off with astonished faces.

Then it dawned on Clara. "Daughter ?" She questioned with delight.

"You don't think?" The Doctor smiled at Clara who grinned back.

"Daphne?!" Clara's eyes were wide and bright.

"No, it couldn't be?" The Doctor was agog.

The Doctor and Clara watched from behind a tree as Melody walked up to her house and set her bike against the side of the two story family home. They then saw Brian Williams appear around a corner with a smiling face and a rake in his hand. He hugged Melody and they shared a laugh. Then finally, out the front door, a young girl, the spitting image of Daphne sprinted out and wrapped her arms around Melody's waist followed by the three of them going into the house.

"I mean it makes sense," The Doctor remarked. "Earth genetics are really an amazing thing; Time Lord genetics even more so. Some things skip a generation, some stay."

"Time rewriting itself," Clara commented. "She looks happy; they all look happy," Clara made sure to say in The Doctor's direction. "River said most paradoxes work themselves out. Its knowing which ones, that's the trouble."

"Yes…" he whispered with a smile and a tinge of melancholy. "And now is the time I leave the Ponds alone for good. Best that way."

"Okay..." Clara said with a bit of a question, but she trusted The Doctor and knew he was going through a lot – none of his decisions in the last twenty-four hours were made lightly.

"More misadventures, Miss Oswald?" he asked with gravitas in his voice and a twinkle in his eye.

Clara nodded her head and she and The Doctor walked away together, two mates being there for each other in time of need. And Clara tried to find the best way to tell The Doctor she now lived In London.

When they were almost out of sight, Melody opened her door and lounged in the doorway, looking off at the two people in the distance. She took a bite of an apple in her hand and shifted her head a bit - the skin of her leg jetting out through the rip in her dress.

"So, that's him? That's eleven?" she said with a bit of sass and curiosity. "Not really what I imagined. He's cute; seems too young for me."

"Well, not technically," said a male Scottish voice.

"Still, I thought you'd pick a less boyish face." She smiled and the Twelfth Doctor appeared next to her, as his former self and Clara disappeared into the distance.

"I was going through a wee bit of a phase." He looked at her with a spirited look in his eye. "I thought you remembered most things now?"

"Sometimes… but I can't always remember your faces." She straighten his collar and sent her hand over where eleven had previously had a bow tie and then pulled down 12's lapel. "You have had so many of them." She rested her hand on his chest.

The 12th Doctor took Melody's hand and whisked her around in a circle, as if they were doing a jig, making Melody scream and plead for him to stop. "You see, that man. Me. You just met, thinks he's on his way to his own death. That the next game will be… game over, sorry, thank you for playing." He dipped her. "He has no idea that the stroke of twelve is coming." He pulled her back up to a standing position.

"Every new ending is another new beginning." Melody looked off in the distance, but there was no sight of Clara and 11 anymore. "No idea, eh? He thinks… I mean you think…"

"Not the foggiest."

"That's so sad." She took a moment and then was back in the present with the twelfth Doctor. She faced him. "You won't be gone long this time, will you, Sweetie?" Melody handed him a packed lunch in a brown paper sack and then took another bite of the apple in her other hand.

"Is that my apple? Did you eat my apple again?" He was not pleased.

"Oh, sorry…" River gulped down the bite full, dabbed her fingers at the corners of her mouth, and then put the apple in the brown paper sack Twelve was holding, all with the look of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Well, I don't want it now, do I?" he said with a great deal of anger. He looked inside the bag. ""Oh, not peanut butter and jelly again. "

"It's good for you and you'll eat it. If you had your say you'd eat nothing but bacon and pancakes." She kissed him on the cheek. "The girls and I will miss you as usual..

"Don't stay up…" The Doctor smirked. He then snapped his fingers and the Tardis appeared by the same tree Eleven and Clara had been previously hiding behind.

"Susan!" Melody bellowed. "Come say goodbye to your father."

And then Susan appeared, looking the same as she had in the last picture the Doctor had shown River in the now alternate 1969 – only much younger - with a mass of curly red hair like her mother.

"The bulb needs changing," Melody scolded, looking off at the top of the Tardis.

"I've been busy," he said, as if she had told him that many times before.

"Safe, trip," Susan said lovingly and kissed her father's cheek.

The Twelve Doctor shined with fatherly pride. He then raised his large eyebrows at Melody, grabbed her, kissed her hard and then ran off with a devilish look in his eye. "Time and space waits for no one…" He jumped into the Tardis now open door. "Except, well... for me!" The Doctor grumbled and put his hand in his face, quite cross with himself and out of River's ear shot. "Oh, bugger-me-dead, that's a proper terrible catch phrase if I ever heard one." And the doors closed.

"Hummm… that man, " she bemused and nodded her head with a look of love. She hugged the archway of the door and watched as the Tardis sounded and disappear.

"I wish I looked at a man the way you look at, Da," Susan remarked.

"Hummmm..." Melody sighed, "Something has to be done about that noise, he's doing it wrong." She stopped for a second and got a confused look on her face. "Where did that come from?" She looked at Susan. "Go find that daughter of yours, she has piano at a quarter past."

"Or…" Susan got a look on her face that could only match her mother's when she wanted something from others. "You could go and get her and I could stay here."

"Or… maybe, when your father gets home, I go back in time and tell my past self not to let you move into my house for free room and board."

"You would never kick out your granddaughter."

Melody leaned in. "I didn't say anything about her, did I?"

"Oi!" Susan yelled out and made around the house into the backyard.

"Daphne, get your arse together!"

"Oh, that girl is trouble." Melody sighed "She must get it from me," she smirked

And then Melody disappeared back into her new house past an old black and white picture of herself with Amy and Rory at her high school graduation, in what looked like the 1980s.

" _And some days… everybody wins. Some days, nobody dies at all…. Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives..."_ _ **~ River Song**_

**THE END (or is it?)**

 


End file.
